Revenge
by SchadenFreude95
Summary: The Fantastic Four thought they'd seen the last of Dr. Doom after the ordeal with the Silver Surfer. But they were wrong, very wrong, and Dr Doom still had one last trick up his sleeve, something he had planned before his death. The four can easily handle the world ending and a crazy villain, but can they handle a mentally unstable woman who seems bend on killing Reed? Johnny/OC
1. The Prologue

I really like Johnny/OC stories. My only problem is, I can't find any I find satisfactory. So, I decided to write one myself.

The chapters will be roughly about 2000 words, often longer, but never more than 3000. This ensures that I can update more often because, well, that's just a really good length for me.

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It was a dark and stormy night. No really, it was! It'd been raining cats and dogs constantly for days and lightning flicked across the sky with only seconds in between.

Teresa Von Doom walked at a swift pace down the long dark halls and corridors of the building, once owned by her brother. Once.

Victor had been killed less than a month ago, by the hands of the fantastic four. His company now belonged to Teresa.

She went down another hall, the furious lightning outside being her only means of light. Victor had given her one last mission. One last thing to do, something she was more than willing to go through with, in order to avenge her dead brother.

He had been planning this for months, even before he was captured by the Fantastic four the first time. A small chip had been placed in his body, so if he died, she would be informed immediately. If he died, she was to finish the job for him. Finish what he had started.

And so, the last words she ever heard from her brother was after his death, in the form of a small communication device, saying, "Activate Plan R."

'R' for 'revenge', she remembered. She had always thought it was an incredibly stupid name, but Victor had always been so dramatic.

She opened a door continuing down the stairs, leading to the underground labs, just as the overwhelming sound of the roaring thunder reached its absolute highest peak.

She stopped in front of a heavy metal door, which had a sign that said "DO NOT ENTER. DANGER OF RADIATION"

This was, of course, a lie, invented to keep people out of there. She tapped in the password on the panel next to the door and it opened soundlessly.

Inside it was completely black and smell terribly of sweat and dirty human.

She heard the whimpers of a young woman and lacily flicked on the lights.

Inside was a young woman, no older than twenty five, lying on the ground, behind bars. A half eaten meal, consisting of bread and dry meat was next to her, as well as a pitcher, half filled with water. She looked positively miserable as she lay there, on the ground, greasy haired and dirty.

"I have a job for you, my little pawn."

* * *

"Terrible weather we're having." Sue wrapped her arms around herself, as she looked out over New York. Ben grunted in agreement.

She turned around as sat down at the table again, sipping distractedly at her morning coffee. Reed was not paying any attention to his breakfast, as he was looking at the documents that filled half of the table. Johnny was wolfing down several pancakes at once and Ben was drinking orange juice from a metal bowl. A typical morning at the Baxter Building.

This was, however spoiled, when someone barged through the front door.

The four super humans jumped from their seats, all wondering why someone would barge in with no appointment, warning or even knocking before entering.

Around the corner came a woman. She was in terrible condition, what with her tangled and greasy hair hanging in her eyes and her dirty skin, worn clothes and slumped, skinny figure. She was breathing heavily and angrily, a crazed look in her eyes, which made her look possessed.

She opened her mouth and croaked out a single word.

"You." She pointed weakly at Reed, her arm shaking from the effort.

"You!" she said again, this time louder and more shrilly. The four people, all standing around the table looked at her in confusion and shock.

"YOU!" she shrieked, her voice high pitched, and she lounged at Reed.

Everyone set in motion immediately.

Reed took a step back in shock, Sue created a force field between him and the crazed girl, Johnny prepared himself for throwing flame balls at her, if necessary, and Ben grabbed hold of her arms, careful not to break anything, but still firmly holding her in place.

She cried and screamed, as she tried to get out if his grip.

"You ruined me! This is ALL your fault! YOU turned ME into a monster!" She breathed so hard, she looked like she was going to faint and soon she went limp in Bens arms. Before this, Reed had noticed that she was completely dry, even though she obviously came from outside. Actually, she looked like she hadn't had a bath or touched water for years. As she trashed in Bens grip, something strange happened. At first it looked like she was simply sweating from the effort of freeing herself, but within seconds, water was dripping from her, soaking the ground beneath her and sending the water everywhere, as she trashed her arms and legs around. Soon it was very clear that the water came from within her.

She started sobbing and crying miserably and the tears gathered in her eyes. But as soon as they hit her cheeks, her skin simply absorbed them again, leaving no trace, of there ever being any tears.

This did not go unnoticed by Reed or Sue.

She let out a weak whimper and went still in Bens arms.

He put her on the floor and for several minutes, nobody said anything, all processing what had just happened.

"What... the.. hell?" Johnny broke the silence.

Nobody answered. While everybody else had been starring dumbly at the girl, Reed had been thinking about the strange way water acted around her. He grabbed a glass of water from their forgotten breakfast table and went over to the unconscious girl.

"Reed!" Sue hissed, "What are you doing!"

"I just want to check something." He reassured her as her crouched down next to the girl. He removed the hair from her face and tipped the glass, pouring water on her.

Everyone gasped. As soon as the water made contact with her skin it disappeared, as if her skin was absorbing it.

"That's freaky." Johnny concluded, tentatively shuffling closer to see what happened to the water.

"Guys, I don't want to draw any conclusions," Reed began, "But it looks like we aren't the only people in the city who has special abilities.."

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This one was short, but it's a prologue, so it doesn't count!

Please, read and review :)


	2. The Lie

Never before have I posted two chapters in two days. I guess my muses have been very active lately.

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"She's asleep." Sue said softly, entering the living room.

The strange woman had been out cold for three hours. When she woke up again she freaked out and tried to attack Reed once more.

Ben had tried to grab hold of her again, but she had managed to maneuver away from him, attempting to get at Reed.

Johnny reached her before she had a change to get to Reed, who was too shocked to consider stopping her himself.

He got hold of her wrist and restrained her, wrapping his arms firmly around her trashing limps. He almost immediately let go though, because as soon as his hands made contact with her bare upper arms a sizzling sound came and steam seemed to come out of nowhere. Or from her to be more precise.

He stared in shock at his own hands, as Ben ran past him and restrained the girl again.

This time she had stayed awake and, even though Sue thought it was horrible, they had tied her hands behind her back and her legs together.

Half an hour later, when she had stopped crying, they managed to get her to talk.

"I was the assistant of Von Doom. One day I woke up like this. Von Doom explained everything to me." At this she looked accusingly at Reed, so much hate in her eyes. "He told me that after you returned from space and became these 'superheroes' you tried to recreate the storm in one of Von Dooms labs. The whole experiment exploded and Von Doom was affected. I was affected too and Von Doom promised me to do what he could to change me back. He couldn't, so he locked me up in the underground labs of the Von Doom building."

Sue gasped, shocked that Von Doom would lie like that, and shocked that he would lock her up. She added:"I didn't even know there was underground labs in the Von Doom building.."

The girl laughed bitterly at her. "Guess he didn't trust you very much then, did he? Obviously he could trust none of you! And apparently you can't be trusted!"

"That's a lie!" Johnny had had enough of her undeserved judgment and hate towards them. "Reed never tried to recreate the storm in Von Dooms labs and we never betrayed him, he betrayed us!"

Johnny's t-shirt started smoking. He'd been so angry that he unconsciously had heated up.

Sue put a restraining hand on his shoulder and murmured

"Stop it Johnny! She's finally talking to us; we need to hear what she has to say! Maybe we can find out. what happened to her." Johnny kept glaring at the girl and shrugged Susan's hand off of his shoulder, but didn't say anything else.

"Please continue." Sue motioned for her to continue.

She continued her tale.

"It was for my own best of course, I knew that. I knew he did it to help me. To protect me. You see, unlike _you_, I'm not able to 'control' my '_superpowers_'" She sneered 'super powers' as if it hurt her to call it that.

"He always told me that I would be better off dead and I agreed with him. He was very good to me. Took care of me, fed me and made sure I was well enough. And then YOU killed him."

The fantastic four looked shocked down at her. Reed crouched down and made eye contact with her, determined to get some answers.

"Was he the only person who knew about you?" he asked softly. She looked away, staring hard at the ground.

"That's none of your business."

"Why can't you control your powers?" Johnny questioned, as usual forgetting any sense of etiquette and tact.

Her eyes shot lightning at him and she started shouting again at them again.

"I can't! What do you want me to say? I simply can't! I can't turn off my powers like YOU and I can't control them either!" Water started to drip from her again and the water pipes in the sink started making ominous sounds as if affected by her mood. "I haven't been in contact with water for YEARS, because of YOU! Do you think I look like this by choice?" She pointed out. They all once again were reminded of how much of a mess she was.

She started sobbing and crying again, gasping and salivating. She looked broken and possessed as she was there; crouched on the ground water falling from her pitiful sounds escaping her lips.

They moved her to the guestroom and Susan watched over her until she fell asleep.

"How is she?" Reed worriedly asked her.

"She's going to be fine, I think." Susan sat tiredly at the dinner table. "It's just horrible what he did to her."

"Did you give her a sedative?"

"yes."

"I think we should examine her while she's asleep. Figure out what's wrong with her."

Sue looked affronted at this suggestion.

"Reed you can't just examine her while she's asleep! What if she doesn't want to be examined? That is a huge invasion of someone's privacy!" Johnny and Ben joined them at the table, both wanting to be part of this conversation.

"What other choice do we have? We need find out how she got those powers and we need to know how her powers work. For her own sake."

"Also, I'd like to know, why she started steaming, when I touched her." Johnny pointed out.

Hours later they stood huddled over several of Reeds computers, documents taking up the space on the table, the computers weren't already occupying They were all in Reeds laboratory looking at the many screens and papers.

"Her powers are definitely the ability to control water." Susan clarified, pointing at one of the screens, which informed them that, even though a normal human consists of seventy percent of water, she was made from ninety percent of water.

"No, I think she's able to absorb water. If she could control it, she wouldn't have looked like that. Also, she said that she hadn't been in contact with water for years." Reed corrected. "It makes sense. Her body absorbs the water as soon as it hits her skin."

"That's why she looks to gross? She can't wash herself?" Sue hit Johnny's shoulder. "Ouch."

"That doesn't explain why she believes that locking her up was for her own good, though." Ben reminded them.

"I might be able to answer that," Susan said, holding up a document showing them a picture of her brain and several notes concerning her condition.

"Her brain and body shows signs of a type of radiation I don't recognize. I think Victor was trying to meddle with her memories. I don't think he succeeded though. That's why he did _this." _Sue pointed at the picture of her brain, "You can see that the area of the brain which usually controls emotions, feelings, common sense and the ability to judge is damaged."

"Which means?"

"That she's an emotional nerve wreck. She is not able to control her own feelings; she's got a complete lack of common sense and is not able to judge correctly. This makes her very vulnerable and easily persuaded. She is easily convinced what is right and wrong. If Victor has been telling her that locking her up was for her own good, she would believe it instantly. This also means that she would believe just about anything he told her."

Ben picked up the paper and read the analysis himself.

"So she's basically not able to judge anything by herself?"

"Exactly" Sue nodded. "He's probably been telling her for years that it was Reeds fault she's like that. That's why she hates him."

"I think it's safe to assume that she, somehow, was onboard that space station when the cosmic storm hit. I also think that she wasn't supposed to be there, or Victor brought her along, even though she didn't have the right qualifications to space travel. I don't think he wanted anyone to know about her, or that she was affected by the storm too." He stared hard at the screen, willing it to tell him what had happened to the girl.

"I don't think she got any treatment after she was exposed, unlike us. This might be why she can't control her powers. Also, look at this survey of her body's condition." Reed said and drew the others attention back towards the computer screen he was in front of. "Her body shows signs of malnutrition and it looks like she was hurt physically. He might've been using her for experiments."

"Or, he might've just beaten her up for his own amusement."

"Johnny!" Sue looked accusingly at him.

"No Sue, I think Johnny might be right. He could've easily used her as his fall guy when he was angry. According to this, she's been exposed to electrical shock."

"He's been using his powers on her!"

"Yes. Perhaps when he first started using them he wanted to find out how it worked on humans."

None of the four heroes said anything for a long time. Reed felt incredibly guilty. He knew that he wasn't to blame entirely, but still felt partly responsible for the way she'd been treated. Sue was absolutely horrified with what had happened to the poor girl, Ben felt a deep sympathy for her and Johnny still wondered how she had started to steam, when he touched her.

"That is one sick dude." Johnny commented. His comment was ignored and Reed moved on to a more scientifical subject.

"Her powers are similar to yours Johnny. They're both one of the four elements. Also hers come from inside just like yours. You don't need to be near any fire when in need of your powers, you simply create fire yourself. She consumes any water she touches and stores it in her body for later use. My guess is that she's been consuming water from the air for years, with out knowing."

"But how can she contain so much water?" Ben gruffly questioned.

"Because of atoms."

"What?" Johnny looked confused at them.

Susan sighed loudly.

"Everything, Johnny, is made from atoms. Atoms are very, very small particles. They have an outer shell and a core, but mostly they consist of nothing. Not even air, just plain nothing. When she consumes the water, the nothingness is removed and only the shell, core, protons and neutrons remain. This allows her to contain a huge amount of water at a time, simply because the water shrinks."

"English, please." Johnny requested.

"If you take a kitchen sponge and squeeze, what happens?"

"All the air leaves it?"

"And?"

"..it becomes smaller?"

"Exactly!" Sue proclaimed, "Any unnecessary space is removed from the atoms. For example, if you removed all the unnecessary space from the atoms of an entire football field, it would be smaller than a matchbox."

"So I could basically walk around with a football field in my pocket? Awesome!"

"No, it would still weigh the same as a normal football field." Reed interjected.

"Then how some she doesn't weigh several tons?" Ben put the papers back on the table and looked questioningly at Reed and Sue.

Reed turned back towards the screen and frowned at it.

"I don't know. The only logical explanation is that the water somehow looses its weight too. But I don't know how it's done."

"So, why did she sizzle, when I touched her?" Johnny leaned back in his seat, readying himself for one of Reeds long monologues.

"Your powers are both one of the four elements. And they are also the two opposite elements. Fire and Water has always reacted, when it came in contact with each other. My guess is that your fire and her water fought against each other. Maybe fought is too strong a word.. They simply reacted upon coming into contact with their opposite element. Her water became steam, because your fire was stronger than her water."

"What if my fire wasn't stronger than her water? What would've happened then?"

"I'm not exactly sure. When she's awake, we'll question her further and find out more about all of this. We need to find out where she got her powers from and why Von Doom would make up a story like that."

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Hope you liked it and please review!


	3. The Past

I'm insane. I've never managed posted this rapidly before..

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Weeks passed and Reed worked almost from dawn 'til dusk to find a way to help the poor girl. He knew that he couldn't remove her powers, and even if he could, he wouldn't try again. Recreating a cosmic storm was too dangerous, he knew that from experience.

Susan spent three hours every day trying to coerce the girl into eating something. When she first came, she was nothing but skin and bones, but with a bit of effort from Susan, Ben, and sometimes even Johnny, she had begun to look healthier and gain weight.

She was confined to the same room all day long, simply because she was a danger to herself, as well as Reed.

Whenever she saw him, she tried to attack him and went into another frenzy. It took Sue hours to calm down the girl every time she entered her frenzy state and it would leave her extremely tired and refusing to eat anything for the rest of the day and the day after. It was soon decided that it was best for everybody to simply keep her in one room. However, when Reed wasn't home, Sue would allow the girl to go onto the balcony for a short time, to breathe some fresh air and feel the wind, something she enjoyed very much.

The first time she had been allowed onto the balcony she had tried to jump out from it in an attempt of suicide. Since then, Sue, Ben or Johnny had to accompany her there and make sure they were in between her and the railing, so she couldn't attempt to jump again.

That day, it was Johnny's turn to accompany her to the balcony. He positioned himself strategically between her and the railing, leaning against the railing casually. A light dribble fell from the sky, but it didn't bother him much, since the water evaporated as soon as it touched him.

The girl ignored him completely, choosing to close her eyes and enjoy the wind and the sound of the rains dribble. He was glad that she ignored him. He couldn't imagine what it would do to his reputation to be seen with such a girl, let alone talk to her. He was incredibly repulsed by her appearance. She was ghostly pale, from what he could see under the layer of dirt, and thin, she had deep purple bruises under her eyes after lack of sleep and her hair was greasy and a rat's nest after years of it going uncombed. Whenever Sue offered to comb it for her, she would scream at her and tell her to leave her alone.

"What's it like?" She suddenly asked.

"..what?" Johnny reluctantly responded surprised by the fact that she was actually talking to him.

"Being able to feel the rain."

"It's.. average, I guess. I haven't actually tried to NOT be able to feel the rain."

"I used to hate the rain. And water in general. Whenever someone tried to make me swim, I would downright refuse. Now it's such a huge part of me and now that I know I can't, I wish for nothing more than to be able to_ touch_ the water again."

Johnny awkwardly shifted his position on the railing. He had no idea why she would tell him this and he felt uncomfortable by her openness. He observed her for a moment, sizing her up. He supposed she could have been pretty, but it was hard to tell under the layer of grime and grease. She was tall, only a few inches shorter than him and had long slender legs and arms. Her body was, of course ruined by the fact that she was so sickly thin.

They still didn't know her name, something she refused to tell them. She still believed that they couldn't be trusted completely and therefore refused to give them any kind of personal information. So why would she tell him about this? About her deepest wish and how she had been before the accident?

"That's.. great.." He finished lamely, not knowing what to say. He knew immediately that he had said the wrong thing though, judging by her glare. She huffed with annoyance and sarcastically said: "Yeah, totally fantastic."

Nothing more was said and a few minutes later, he escorted her back to her room.

The next Saturday, Susan and Reed decided to spend some time alone together, and went on a date. Johnny and Ben were left in the Baxter Building to look after the girl.

Thus, the two males were in the living room, popcorn on the table and a horror movie in the DVD player.

Johnny was lounging on the couch and Ben sat in the armchair that was specially made to carry his weight.

"Oooh, here comes the good part." Johnny spoiled and Ben huffed in annoyance.

The girl in the movie let out an ear piercing shriek, however, this was soon drowned out by and even louder and more horrified shriek.

It came from the apartment.

I came from the girls' room.

Ben and Johnny both leaped from the couch and rushed to the girls' room, Ben almost breaking down the door in his attempt to open it.

She was laying on the bed, her body arched and tense, her legs kicking out sometimes, making her collapse onto the bed, only for her to arch again and kick out once more. Her eyes were wide and panicked, staring ahead, tears falling rapidly, and her mouth open to let out screams, pleas and shrieks.

The screams from the television mingled with hers and Ben hollered at Johnny to "Shut that damn thing off!"

Johnny already had the remote in hand and quickly paused the movie. He rushed into her room, Ben right behind him.

As soon as the movie was paused and the screams from the female in it stopped, so did the girls. She continued to trash around in the bed and started salivating, but she didn't scream anymore.

Instead, she started talking, begging and pleading for mercy, seemingly under attack by an unseen force.

"Please stop, it hurts" she gasped. "it hurts, it hurts, it hurts," she cried over and over again.

"Get a hold of Reed!" Johnny ordered and Ben quickly left in search of a phone.

Johnny went into the room and bend next to her, not knowing what to do. He decided to go with the obvious choice and shushed her gently.

"It's gonna be okay, no one can hurt you." She grabbed his hands, seemingly unconsciously and her eyes followed the sound of his voice. As soon as he stopped talking she stared at the ceiling again and continued to let out panicked whimpers and pleads.

He grabbed both sides of her face, ignoring the sizzling sound and vapor their connected skin caused, and forced her to look at him.

"Wake up!" he commanded sternly, "No one is going to hurt you. He's gone." She stared at him, but her eyes were unfocused and she seemed to look right through him. She continued to cry and he noticed for the first time that her skin wasn't absorbing the tears, but instead they fell from her cheeks onto the bed.

"He's gone. He can't hurt you anymore. I promise." She relaxed in his hands, undoubtedly some part of her brain registering what he was telling her. She closed her eyes shut and let out gasping breaths, tears still falling onto the bed.

When she opened her eyes again, she seemed to have cleared her head. She pushed his hands away. As soon as she returned to her usual state, her skin started to absorb the tears again.

She had returned to her normal guarded self.

Johnny continued to crouch next to the bed, until Ben entered again and told him that Reed and Sue would be back in a couple of minutes.

When they came back, she was asleep again and Johnny explained what he had seen and heard.

"As soon as we turned off the movie, she stopped screaming." He added in the end.

"I think those screams triggered a memory. I think her brain woke up momentarily from its manipulated and messed up state and it became conscious of what had happened to her and all the terrors she's been through came at her all at once." Reed concluded.

"There was something more." Johnny said.

"What was it?"

"Well.. It's probably nothing but-"

"Tell us, Johnny!" Sue said impatiently.

"She started crying, But her skin didn't absorb the tears. They fell freely from a face onto the bed."

Reed raised an eyebrow disbelievingly.

"It's true! And as soon as she calmed down and became herself her skin started to absorb the water again!"

"Extraordinary!" Reed cried as he turned and marched straight to his lab all while saying, "The screams from the movie obviously reminded her of her own screams from when she was tortured by Victor. But why? Did her screams remind her of _before_ he damaged her brain?" The others followed him, trying to make sense of his monologue.

"What if something else trigged her brain again? The screams reminded her of something unpleasant, but what if her brain was reminded of a pleasant memory? If it triggered a memory that didn't send her into a panic attack? Would she be able to stay awake or would it be momentarily awake, like this time?"

He turned on his computers and paced around the room while they started. The others stood by the door.

"..Perhaps I could build something that could repair the damage that's been done to her brain.."

He walked from one end of the lab, turned around and walked the same way back.

".. No that would be too dangerous, it might completely destroy her memory.."

He stopped up and turned towards his computers, which were now ready for use.

".. Need to find a different way. This can't be done scientifically. It needs to be done the normal, human way.."

".. And why did her skin stop absorbing the water?.."

".. There must be a part of her brain controlling when to consume water and when not to.."

The others were utterly bewildered by his rapid speech. He turned to them, a serious look on his face and asked for them to leave him in complete silence for the rest of the evening.

Sue, knowing that the romantic night with her husband was over, decided to go to bed. Ben left to talk to his girlfriend, Alicia, who was currently in Europe and Johnny sat back down on the couch, looking at the part where they had stopped the TV. The girl in the movie was still alive, despite that fact that one of her arms had been ripped off, and her mouth was open in a terrified scream.

He turned off the DVD and opted to watch the news instead.

"Teresa Von Doom inherits the Von Doom Company after her passed away, psychotic brother-" The reporter announced, "She claims that she intends to bring the company back on track, after her brothers unfortunate actions."

Johnny huffed. "Unfortunate? Got that right. Probably the understatement of the year.."

He turned off the TV and went to his room.

Johnny had his own apartment in New York, but stayed most of the time in the Baxter Building, with Susan and Reed. The fact that he didn't have to cook or clean himself was one of the main reasons.

Ben and Alicia had their own apartment too, but when she was traveling, which she often was, because of her art, he stayed at Sue and Reeds, just like Johnny.

He lay back on his bed, arms behind his head and studied the ceiling. He was wide awake, the scary experience from before having not quite left his body yet.

Also, his hands were cold. Which they never were, until he had grabbed her face.

_Apparently, her water evened me out while she was awake.._ He thought.

He rose again, and did his usual night routine, then slipped under his covers, hoping to fall asleep.

It wasn't until hours later that he was able to fall asleep and even then he could hear Reed working in his lab.

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Please leave a review :)


	4. The Waking

Sorry guys. It's alot easier to upload in the weekends. So I will be posting most chapters in the weekends.

Anyway, I have be at my school for my examination in three mintues, so I'd better go now.

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Sue burst into Johnny's room, waking him up rather rudely. "Get up Johnny. Breakfast meeting in ten minutes."

Groaning loudly and turning from his, oh so comfortable position, onto his back, he rubbed his eyes, furiously trying to remove the sleep that had gathered there. So, what did he say about the perks of living with his sister and brother-in-law again?

But, Susan was not a force to play around with, and Johnny had come to learn, the hard way, that these meetings weren't something he could skip out on. He had chosen to skip once and had _never _tried to skip again. He shuddered at the memory.

Exactly twelve minutes later, Johnny was positioned at the table, poking at his eggs and waiting for this 'meeting' to start. Susan was sipping her coffee and Ben eating a whole box for Corn Flakes.

The only one missing was Reed. But shuffling from his lab informed Johnny of his whereabouts.

"Sue, you told me _fifteen _minutes ago that the meeting was in ten minutes." Johnny whined, sounding like a child who was denied his treats.

"We're waiting for Reed," His sister informed him severely. Johnny made a sound like a snort and a laugh and, sarcastically replied, "Are you sure? 'Cus _I_ was convinced that we were waiting for the Easter Bunny."

Just then, Reed entered. Johnny raised his arm in greeting, smiling overenthusiastically and very sarcastically. "Ah! So nice of you to join us!"

Reed paid no heed of Johnny's mockery.

"I think I know why she stopped absorbing the water."

"What, no 'Good Morning'?"

"Shut it, hot head!" Ben cut across

"The area of her brain that controls emotions, common sense and the ability to judge is also the area which makes her able to control her powers. Her powers are linked to her feelings, and while her feelings are this unstable and out of her own control, so are her powers."

"..'kay?"

Susan sighed, exasperated. "Do we really have to explain everything to you, Johnny?"

"That'd be great, thanks."

"Her emotions are busted. She can't control them. That's why she seems so angry and over the top all the time. Every single one of her emotions is exaggerated. And while she can't control her emotions, she's got no control over her powers either. Her brain simply hasn't got the energy or sense to control both her raging emotions _and_ her powers."

"So, she's basically PMSing all the time? Great.."

"Erh, yeah. Not exactly PMSing, but the outcome is the same. She becomes an angry emotional female, unable to be reasonable and-"

"We do _not!"_ Sue said incredulously. Ben laughed loudly.

"But, I believed that now that she's already woken up once, her brain will know that something is wrong and work to recover." Reed looked seriously at all of them, "She will possibly wake up once in a while. And we need to be there to protect her from herself. "

Everyone nodded at the stern look he was giving them. They all understood that this girl needed them to survive from herself. Well, everyone but Johnny. He didn't quite see why _he_ had to take care of her too, when Susan and Ben could manage just fine, but he kept this to himself, too tired to conjure any good excuses.

Johnny Storm had never had sleeping problems. He couldn't ever remember not being able to sleep. Not even in his childhood, when one was afraid of monster under the bed and what not.

Not even then had Johnny had trouble sleeping. He wasn't a coward and he was very secure in himself. He knew that he easily could handle what was thrown his way.

That's why it bothered him so much that he hadn't been able to sleep that night. And he couldn't figure out what was hindering him from sleeping.

And as the weeks progressed, his problem didn't go away, no it stayed, very persistently, and it left him annoyed and grumpy. Basically, HE was now the one acting like a PMSing female.

While Johnny got worse and worse, the woman seemed to be making progress. Once or twice she had woken up for a short time, in the past three weeks, and Reed believed that her brain was repairing itself rather nicely.

"Soon, she'll be able at stay out of her manipulated state for good." He kept saying and then smiled happily.

Johnny didn't really know if he should believe this. _She still seems really messed up to me.._ he thought whenever Reed optimistically reminded them of her progress.

Reed monitored her progress all the time and used most of his time in his lab, because of this.

That was why Susan decided that a romantic weekend was in order. She convinced Reed, with many a bat of her eyelashes, that he should take the weekend off and spend the weekend alone with her, somewhere that wasn't New York.

"Johnny and Ben can eeeasily handle it! You just need to show Ben what he needs to keep an eye on, on you computers and Johnny can make sure she eats." She wrapped her arms around him from behind and planted a firm kiss on his temple. "It's not very hard; we've been doing it for weeks now!"

"I guess one weekend wouldn't hurt.." Reed reluctantly replied. Sue held him to this statement.

And thus, in spite of many a protest from Johnny, Sue and Reed left for three days.

"This is going to suck! I had a lot of stuff planned for this weekend! I don't wanna babysit some girl!" Johnny complained for hours, until, finally, Ben had had enough and ordered him to leave.

"Come back before twelve, or the doors will be locked, flame boy!" he threatened. Johnny was out the door before Ben got to tell him that he could only go if Johnny would watch her the next night.

Johnny went straight for the little cozy bar across the street, where he was currently working on charming the hot waitress. He almost had her, he knew that, because after all, who could resist a celebrity and superhero, who'd saved the city? No one, not for very long atleast.

At eleven o'clock, when the waitress had finished her shift, Johnny brought her with him to his own apartment. He knew he was gonna get some tonight. Smiling, satisfied with himself he looked at the eye candy that was currently clinging to his arm. She was incredibly hot, with blonde curls and a plentiful cleavage.

What was her name again?

Brittney? Betty? Something with a 'B', he guessed. Or was it 'D'? He couldn't quite remember.

Two minutes later, they were on his couch, making out.

Johnny knew exactly how to get them. He knew exactly the way to kiss a girl to make her knees grow weak. And this knowledge he used shamelessly to woo as many girls as possible. He'd start out softly, so they'd think he was tender and when they responded, he would pretend to get needy. Usually this made the girl believe that he thought her sooo attractive, and she would be out of her clothes in the blink of an eye.

However, tonight didn't go as planned. Because, just as he had gotten that hideous waitress dress off of her, his cell phone went off. It was Ben.

"Son of a-" Johnny mumbled, and answered the phone, trying to not concentrate on the girl who was currently nibbling sensually at his earlobe.

"What?" He requested annoyed.

"She's had another spaz out." Ben replied, sounding helpless. "I can't make her calm down. You could last time and I need you to come and do it again. Quick! "

Johnny sighed exaggeratedly and replied "fine. I'll be there in five." He flipped off his phone and stood up. The waitress stared disappointedly at him.

"I'll be right back, baby" he reassured and walked to his balcony.

He 'flamed on' and flew towards the Baxter Building, cursing Ben under his breath. Upon reaching the top apartment of the building, he de-flamed, now in his fantastic four suit, and was met with the girls shrieks.

"What happened?" He hollered at Ben, when Ben opened the door to the balcony and he could step in.

"I have no idea! She started screaming for no reason! Whenever I try to approach her, she tells me to go away. I think she's scared of me." Ben explained.

"Where were you, when she had the attack?"

Ben pointed towards the door that led to the kitchen. "In there, making a sandwich." Another one of her cries interrupted their conversation.

Johnny nodded in understanding and walked decidedly towards the girl room.

Inside, he saw, shocked, that she was crouched on the bed, staring around in panic, as if she was expecting Victor to jump out and attack her. Once in a while, she would let out a frightened sound, whimper and scream. What really surprised him was that she had scratched herself into a bloody mess. Her face was barely recognizable from all the wounds she had inflicted on herself.

She saw him and immediately started crying loudly. Once again, the tears ran freely down her cheeks. She stared brokenly at him, slumped in defeat and hoarsely whispered, "Don't hurt me."

He took a step back in surprise at this and stood undecided in the doorway, not knowing quite what to do.

She kept looking at him, shaking like a scared little rabbit, breathing harshly. He cautiously took a step forward, not missing her sharp intake of breath at his movements. She dropped her head and wrapped her arms around herself in defeat. He knew that she expected him to attack her any minute.

He cleared his throat, intending to make her look at him. This had the desired effect as she snapped her head back up, wide eyed and barely daring to breathe. He held out his hands in a pacifying manner, attempting to show her that he wouldn't hurt her, through his movement.

Tears were still streaming down her eyes, but she unwrapped her arms from herself, not as guarded as before.

He was at the edge of the bed now, but she still hadn't moved. She just kept staring at him. He'd never noticed this before, but her eyes were really beautiful. A silver-gray and blue. It vaguely reminded him of the sky on a rainy, but still sunny day. The blue background filled with thick gray clouds, where the sun sometimes would peak through.

The elusion was ruined by the haunted look in those beautiful eyes, though.

He hesitantly reached out towards her. She didn't move, but her teary eyes followed the hand, her body shaking in fright.

He didn't move it further towards her, nor did he remove it. He simply kept his hand in front of her, offering it as comfort. Two minutes passed and neither moved. Then, hesitantly, she reached her own hand out and weakly held onto his. She recoiled, however, then her hand hissed angrily from the contact. he kept his hand where it was, and soon she grabbed onto it again.

He took this as a permission to touch her and wrapped his arms around her in a comforting hug.

She went rigid in his embrace, but soon relaxed and even rested her head against his muscular shoulder.

He could still feel the tears dropping onto his shoulder, but kept holding her. She smelled terrible and felt even worse, but he willed himself to ignore this.

_This isn't about me, it's about her. It's not for my sake but hers. So I'll just have to deal with her condition. this isn't about me, this isn't about me._ he repeated as a mantra and brought one of his arms up to hold her head. Neither noticed Ben, who walked away from the door, from where he'd been watching what Johnny was doing.

Ten minutes later, she pulled away.

"Better?" he questioned.

"Much." She said and whipped the tears away with her sleeve, smiling weakly at him. "Thanks, Johnathan Storm."

Wait a second, whipping away her tears?

"Come with me for a second." He grabbed her hand and let her into the kitchen. She followed, one big question mark. He opened the tap and ordered her to wash her hands. She hesitantly reached out and touched the water.

Touched!

She was touching the water!

She smiled like a maniac and put both of her hands under the water, savoring the complete ecstasy she felt at the cool feeling of the water on her skin.

"Amazing.." Johnny muttered and she looked at him, and she smiled so much, he was surprised her face didn't rip in half. Her eyes were dancing with joy, new tears building up. Tears of joy. And when they fell, she didn't absorb them and they fell freely.

Five minutes later, he had provided her with a fresh set of clothes (He had nicked them from Sue and Reeds room), a towel, shampoo and anything else she needed for her bath.

She stayed in the bathroom, soaking in the water for hours, not able to remember ever being this happy, but melancholic, ever.

She remembered everything now. Remembered that Von Doom had brought her with him on the mission, remembered that he locked her in the underground labs, and remembered that he used her for experiments and how he messed around with her brain. She also remembered Teresa and how Teresa resumed Von Dooms doing after he'd died. The details were still sketchy, but she remembered almost everything. She even remembered her own name again. She had refused to tell the four heroes her name, because she was too ashamed to admit that she couldn't remember it.

She sighed and sank deeper into the water. It was growing cold and she pulled up the stopper, and let out most of the water, only to refill the tub with steaming water again.

Johnathan Storm had reassured her that she could use the tub for as long as she wished. She owed him everything. He had somehow been able to wake her up from her state.

She started playing around with the water, making it float around in the air, making shapes and designs. She was amazed at what she could do with the water, but couldn't fully appreciate it, because it was the cause of her years of suffering.

An hour later she removed the water from the tub and dried herself off. Her hands were prunes and her was extremely exhausted, but too happy to care about neither.

It felt silly to dry herself with a towel, but she didn't dare try and absorb it, lest she couldn't stop absorbing the water again.

She combed her hair next and this proved to be a difficult task. Half an hour later, however, it was smooth again. She ran her fingers through it, enjoying the smoothness and softness of it.

She looked at herself in the floor length mirror. She was still pale and incredibly thin, but her cheeks had a rosy tint and her eyes were alive once again.

She had washed away all of the grime and dirt and now you could see her milky skin again.

She looked at herself from all angles and thoroughly enjoyed the sight, incredibly happy with her clean state, despite the repulsive pale and thin body she saw.

She slipped on the clothes Johnny had handed her. They didn't fit entirely, but it didn't matter to her at all.

Her hair had dried and was left tumbling over her shoulders in waves. It was in desperate need of a cut, but that she would see to later.

Shyly, she stepped out of the bathroom and approached the living room, where she knew the two males were.

_She sure cleans up nicely._ Johnny thought when she came into view. She was still a terrible sight, but it was greatly improved now that she wasn't covered in dirt. Ben stood up and expressed his happiness over her newfound sanity. She smiled graciously at him and accepted his congratulation. She smiled at Johnny, then and he could see the unexpressed gratitude in her eyes.

"Not bad," he smirked at her, standing and digging his hands into his pockets. "Glad to see that you're better."

"I owe that to you, Johnathan Storm." She half smiled, "You have my eternal gratitude."

"Don't worry 'bout it. I'll send a bill."

She laughed then, and her laughs send a shiver of pleasure down his spine. She didn't giggle like every other girl he knew, no, she laughed a belly laugh that seemed to come right from the heart. He couldn't stop the smile that was stretching onto his face.

Ben looked at the two of them and said, "I'd better call Reed and Sue."

"No!" the girl said quickly. "You'll ruin their weekend. I have taken too much of their time already."

Ben nodded in understanding. "I guess you are right. We'll surprise them when they come home in two days."

Two hours later, Johnny remembered the waitress, currently waiting for him in his apartment.

"Shit." He said and stood up immediately. "Gotta go!"

To the girls surprise, he took off his shirt and jeans, revealing a blue, skin tight suit underneath and ran to the balcony. He flamed on a left for his apartment.

When he got there, it was empty and the door was open.

"Fuck." He said exasperated and sat on his couch with a sigh.

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This one was alot longer than the others.

it's also not edited. So forgive mistakes.

Please leave a review :)


	5. The Mission

Sorry guys, I'm in the middle of my finals. Posts will be rare if there at all, for the next couple of weeks. afterwards, though, I promise to write again. enjoy this chapter!

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The woman was all alone in the fantastic four's apartment the day after. Ben was picking up his girlfriend, Alicia, at the airport and afterwards, he was going on a small trip with her, to be alone after their short separation. Johnny explained that he needed to apologize to a girl he "accidentally stood up last night." So, she sat on the couch, bag of chips in hand, and watched old splatter movies, something she loved doing very much. Johnny had assured her that she could watch any of the movies in the house. Surprisingly, they had a rather nice collection of splatter movies.

She'd been practicing her skills all morning and now, while the sun was setting, she allowed herself to relax and enjoy herself.

She felt herself dosing of slightly, still exhausted from the day prior, when a dull thud from outside reached her ears. She ignored it, but her head snapped up, when the sound of someone knocking on glass reached her.

Outside of the balcony door, Teresa Von Doom stood. Excruciating fear gripped at her heart, when she saw the woman who had been the main character from her worst nightmares, for months. She took in a shuddering breath and considered hiding in her room, when Teresa swiftly pulled out a gun and aimed it at her, her eyebrows rising in a manner that said "I wouldn't do that if I were you." She flicked her hand at the doorknob, signaling for the trembling woman to open it.

She did as ordered and slowly stood up, covered the space between the couch and the glass door and opened it. She quickly took several steps back, trying and failing at giving Teresa a fierce glare.

"What do you want?" She spat, despite her trembling form.

Teresa chuckled and put away the gun. "Ah, I see that Reed Richards has been successful in restoring your brain. I am surprised. You always seemed incredibly brain dead."

She felt like correcting Teresa, mentioning that it'd been Johnathan who'd cured her and to protest against the accusations, but she was too angry and scared to do either. Teresa placed her hands behind her back in a military fashion and started walking lazily towards the couch, where she gracefully sat down, legs crossed and hands resting on her knees. She sat comfortably on the couch, looking as if she owned the place and it nauseated the woman.

She clenched her hands, until she could feel her fingernails digging into her palms and repeated her question.

"Oh, but I just wanted to stop by for a chat.. Just like old times." She sent her a sick and twisted smile that made the woman tense up and had her heart galloping away in her chest.

"You and I both know that you're not here for any pleasantries. Tell me what you want or get out!" She mustered up the courage to shout the last few words and Teresa's dark brows pulled together in a frown and a glare. She looked angry now.

Soon, though, she managed to school her features back into the pleasant and amused mask she'd worn before and with a casual voice replied "I simply wanted to ask you about your mission. How is it coming along?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about" She countered.

"I suppose that little conversation slipped your mind, after your brain was restored then. Also, I must assume that you've failed to remember Adrian."

She felt tears stinging in her eyes. She could never forget Adrian. "What've you done to him?"

"So you have forgotten what happened to him?" Teresa smirked evilly and leaned against the back of the couch, before standing up again. "I shall have to restore your memory then." Teresa walked slowly up to her and circled around her. She dared not move, when the woman was this close to her.

"Just before I set you lose, we made a deal. IF you kill Reed Richards, I will let Adrian go, _without _hurting him.. too much." She stood behind her and whispered the next words into her ears. "If you should fail.. You'll never see him again and he will never wake to see another day." She smiled maliciously, when a sob racked through the woman's body, gleefully basking in her misery.

"Why would you do such a thing?" she whispered and Teresa's features darkened.

"You must pay the price for your own foolishness. You brought this upon yourself. Remember, I have my ways of knowing everything that is going on in your _pathetic_ excuse of a life." She spat pathetic out in a bitter manner. "I will contact you in a week from know. Be sure to have finished your task before then."

And then, she was gone.

She fell to the floor, sobbing harshly for several minutes. She didn't want to take the life of an innocent man, yet she couldn't let Teresa kill Adrian. Her poor Adrian. She desperately tried to figure out a way to avoid her situation, but could not come up with any plan on how to avoid this. She had to think of Sue too. She'd lose a husband. And Ben would lose his best friend. Also, America would lose one of their finest scientists as well as one of New York's superheroes. The fantastic four would be over and New York could be in potential danger again.

But she couldn't bear the thought of losing Adrian and so, she selfishly tried to figure out the best way of killing Reed.

Ben and Sue were often out, either grocery shopping or visiting Alicia. Johnny spent a lot of his time partying and picking up girls, so she and Reed would surely be alone on the house at some point. There, he often took a nap, because he always was tired from working so much and because it was the only quiet time of day. It should be fairly easy, she noted. Just a knife in the chest..

She felt absolutely sick to her stomach for thinking such thoughts and pictures of a dead Reed flashed before her eyes. She tried to blink them away, but they stayed, stubbornly meaning to torture her.

It was ironic how she had wanted to kill him for years, and now when she was asked to do just that, she felt bad for having to do so. She didn't know how she was going to handle this situation.

After pondering for hours, she came up with a plan: She would pretend that she'd returned to her former state of being, so nobody would blame her, when she killed Reed. Also, she wouldn't have to get emotionally attached to any of them and they wouldn't her, if they thought she still was crazy. In theory, it was a good plan and she practiced her acting, until Johnny came home.

He slammed the door open, in his usual brass manner, loudly whistling a tune and jiggling with his car keys. He placed them on the counter and went in search for her, only to find her in the living room. She looked perfectly calm, but Johnny didn't miss the dry trails from tears on her cheeks.

"Okay there?" He slouched down on the couch opposite from her and sprawled out in a relaxed manner. From his body language, it was easy to see that he didn't really care that much about her crying.

"Perfectly fine, Storm," She stiffly replied, aiming at a rude tone, but not quite there yet.

Johnny, though, was absolutely oblivious to her stiff reply and continued looking out the window, moving his foot up and down to an unheard tune in his head. "So, I realized that I never got to ask you your name?"

She didn't answer for a few moments, wondering if she should really tell him or not.

"Raven." She replied at length. Johnny frowned and snapped his head towards her, scrutinizing her features, before dumbly replying, "But, you're blond." He eyed her blond locks and she rolled her eyes, trying to appear as rude as possible.

"You 'superheroes' were always incredibly slow. As if my parents knew my hair color when I was born." She purposefully made that stab about superheroes, hoping that he'd catch on, but to no avail. Johnny didn't even appear to be listening to her. He simply looked out the window. It annoyed her greatly, not only because he was so oblivious to her rudeness, but also because it was embarrassing to know that _he_ had been the one, who was able to waken her from her crazed state.

"So, where're you from?"

"England."

"That would explain the accent." Johnny noted. She sighed in frustration and glared openly at him.

"D'you have any family?" he asked at length, though she knew it was only a question asked purely out of good manners. Or perhaps to ease the awkwardness.

This time, she decided to make it painfully obvious, what she thought of him. "Are you always this nosy? Or was it a side-effect from your little 'space-accident'?"

He frowned immediately and she could tell that her words had gotten the desired effect.

"Are you on your period or something?" She stood up affronted and glared daggers at him, not showing the overwhelming sadness she felt at what she was doing. Johnny stood up too and watched her with his blue eyes, still frowning deeply.

"How _dare_ you! You males are all the same, sexist bastards!" to Johnny's surprise and her own shock, she reached out and slapped him harshly on his left cheek.

"Ow," he grunted and held his cheek, "What the hell was that for?" She glared daggers at him, resisting the urge to apologize. _Come one Raven, you'd never apologize if you were crazy, so you cannot do it now!_ She repeated inside her head over and over.

Johnny suddenly got a glimmer of understanding in his eyes and he cautiously asked, "Tell me Raven.. What do you think of Reed?"

Raven quickly imagined what she would've replied, had she still been crazy and said, "He is a terrible person, selfish and foolish! I hate him!" She snarled in the end, for effect and knew that she was successful, judging by the crestfallen look on his face. She hated to see him like that, mainly because she was the cause of it.

"And what do you think of Von Doom?"

She was about to reply, saying that she loved him, but realized that she'd never willingly answered their questions, when she was mentally unstable.

"You are not even worthy of saying that name!" she snarled and tried hitting him again, only for him to quickly grab her hand, before the blow could fall. Their hands started sizzling again, so both quickly let go.

"I think it's best if you stay in your room, until you feel better." He evenly replied, his tone severe and disappointed.

"You cannot force me!" Spitefully, she crossed her arms and noticed how his eyes darkened dangerously. Before she had time to react, he had slung her over his shoulder and headed for her room.

She shouted profanities at him all the way there, but made no attempts at freeing herself.

He dumped her onto her bed and harshly told her to stay until she started acting like a civilized person again.

As soon as he closed the door, she banged at it, for simple effect and to convince him of her crazed state. She stopped after a few moments and slowly sank to the floor, disgusted with herself. Her plan had worked, but she couldn't bring herself to be happy about it. She would have to kill an innocent person in order to save another.

_No one should ever have to be forced into such cruel actions and decisions._ She thought and felt a sob escape her mouth, between her heavy breaths. She bit down harshly on her lip, to prevent herself from crying, but she couldn't stop the tears from overflowing and spilling down her cheeks. She felt her skin absorbing the tears once again and this only added insult to injury. She curled up in her bed, bent on ignoring the rest of the world for the rest of that day and the day after, if not the rest of her life. She couldn't remember how long she cried, but it wasn't until well into the night, that she fell into a restless sleep.

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	6. The Comfort

Sorry this took so long! I have one word for you: Finals.

For hours she sat on the bed, hugging her legs and sobbing into her knees. At one point, she'd gotten up and walked around the room. But she was hit with a panic attack and could've sworn that the walls were closing in on her. Memories flooded her brain against her will and soon, all she could hear was the cold voice of Victor Von Doom, promising to kill her.

She'd crashed to the floor, realizing too late that she had torn a hole in her lip, to keep from screaming. The metallic taste of blood filled her mouth and the need to scream rose within her, until she had been unable to breathe.

That was when she had allowed herself to shriek to the heavens, pleading to be released from her terrible life, wishing for nothing more than to die and let someone else decide the fate of these people.

_Adrian._

She knew, deep down that she would have to do it, knew that she could never let herself be the cause of his death. But Reed.. Reed didn't deserve to die, he had never done anything to harm her and he was married!

And so, she continued her loud wails for hours, until her throat was raw and her voice broken and even after that, she continued.

She was hugging herself, curling into a ball on the floor, when she suddenly felt the warmth of a hand on her shoulder. She flinched and stiffened, her first thought being that Von Doom had come to hurt her. Yet, she knew it wasn't so. This hand was warm, very warm compared to the cold hands of Von Doom, and it was comforting.

She stopped screaming, breathing in shuddering pants, relaxing when Johnny's strong arms wrapped around her.

She breathed in his scent and found that his mixed smell of cologne, warmth and bonfire was oddly calming to her. Even the sound of sizzling and the steam rising from where their skin touch felt relaxing.

No words were said and no words were needed. She knew that she couldn't talk if she tried; she had destroyed her voice that much and she knew that he didn't know what to say, that he had probably contemplated the best way to comfort her before entering.

Minutes later, he pulled away and scrutinized her features, trying to determine if she was normal once again, and Raven decided to stay normal for now. She allowed him to see how broken she was, how much she hated herself and how much she was hurting. She couldn't explain why she trusted him so, but something in his blue gaze made her believe that she could share her innermost feelings and secrets with him.

"Better?" he asked after some time and she nodded, not daring to use her voice. She studied him then and saw how tired he looked. Like someone who hadn't slept properly in weeks. She realized that she probably had kept him awake for hours, with her screaming. A quick glance at the watch on her nightstand confirmed that it was in the middle of the night.

He pressed his lips together tightly and nodded once, before standing up, pulling her with him.

Together, they entered the kitchen, where Johnny placed her in a chair, before he pulled out an ice-cream box from the freezer along with two spoons.

With a flush, she realized that he wasn't wearing a shirt, just a pair of loose gray pajama pants. Before she could stop herself, her eyes ran over his smooth, well muscled upper body. She immediately felt ashamed for looking at another man while Adrian was captured by Teresa.

Johnny smacked the caramel flavoured ice-cream onto the counter and handed her a spoon.

She vaguely remembered that she hadn't eaten ice-cream in over five years and eagerly accepted the spoon.

They dug into the cold treat from opposite sides and ate in silence for some time until Johnny awkwardly cleared his throat, forcing her to look at him.

"Erh.." he started, but she quickly interrupted him.

"Thank you." She hoarsely croaked out, smiling weakly at him. He returned the smile brightly, albeit a bit cockily and brought the spoon to his mouth again.

"You're welcome." Silence followed, but only for a short time, "How much do you remember?" he asked.

"Everything.." she mumbled. "If you are referring to what happened yesterday."

"Yeah, I was." He looked bashful for a moment and added; "I guess I didn't handle it too well.." he was referring to when he dropped her on the floor, but she quickly shook her head.

"I deserved that, really! You did the right thing." On an impulse, she reached over and placed her hand over his. His eyes shot to her face, just as she withdrew her hand, as if burned by it, which could've been true, given his ridiculously high body temperature. Neither said anything after that.

The rest of the ice-cream was devoured and Johnny set to making hot cocoa, while she watched him work.

"Aren't you freezing?" she motioned to his half-nude state, but he turned to her with a wry smile.

"I'm the human torch." He reminded her and she felt embarrassed with her forgetfulness.

She laughed nervously and smiled a bit bashfully at him, which he returned with a humored smirk before turned around to the fridge. He poured the cold liquid into two mugs and walked back to his seat, warming the mugs in his hands on his way there.

Half an hour later, they sat in the living room, laughing and joking around. Raven couldn't recall having this much fun ever before and for the first time in five years, she felt almost at peace. Johnathan was easy to talk to and, surprisingly, very intelligent company. Yet, the horror of her situation loomed in the back of her mind and she was unable to feel completely at ease because of it.

_Murderer_, a small voice whispered in the back of her head. _He would never talk to you like this, if he knew you plan on killing his brother-in-law._ She ignored the voice the best she could, but it was still there.

It wasn't until well into the morning that they fell asleep in the living room. Raven couldn't remember having slept this good ever, despite sleeping on a couch, and when she woke again she felt well rested. She was lying, hugging a pillow, wrapped in a blanket and incredibly comfortable. She snuggled closer to the blanket and almost went back to sleep, but the sound of someone moving woke her up. She plied one eye open and peered at Johnny, who was fast asleep on the other couch.

His face wasn't relaxed as one would expect, but his brow was furrowed as if he was concentrating greatly on staying asleep. His breathing was slow and his bare chest rising and falling with it. He wasn't wrapped in a blanket like her, but lay sprawled on the couch, one leg hanging over the edge, touching the floor along with his arm. The sun was shining on him, wrapping him in a golden hue and highlighting his strong facial features and tan torso.

She got up silently, not wishing to disturb the man and paddled softly on bare feet to the kitchen, planning on making breakfast.

It was very difficult in the beginning; she hadn't cook anything in five years, but half an hour later she had managed to create a typical breakfast.

Eggs and bacon was sizzling on a pan, frozen pancakes were being de-frosted in the oven and bread was being toasted in the toaster. She was feeling very satisfied with her accomplishment; she had never been fond of cooking, deeming herself bad at it.

She was cutting oranges in half, intending to make juice from them, when a thought entered her head and she put down the knife, regarding the oranges for a moment. Then, hesitantly, she reached out her hand and focused on the liquid in the oranges. She tried to feel the water and attempted to bend it to her will. She was rewarded almost immediately, when the juices of the oranges squeezed out of the fruit in an elegant string, floating in mid air. She allowed herself a smile and let out a single laugh, playing around with the liquid before placing it in a jug.

Only minutes later Johnny entered the kitchen, sleepily rubbing his eyes. "Smells good." He complimented and broke into a wide yawn, stretching thoroughly. Raven quickly appreciated the way his muscles flexed when he stretched, but caught herself in the act. _What wouldn't Adrian think if he saw her do that! _

She cleared her throat awkwardly and swiftly turned back to the sizzling pan, seeing that its contents were done.

That night Raven contemplated her situation. She had promised herself to act crazy, in order to make what she had to do easier by not forming any emotional bonds with anyone, but found this to be incredibly hard with Johnathan Storm.

Sighing, she started pacing the room. She could just change between crazy and normal? That would be easy and no-one would blame her for killing Reed that way. But that would mean to act normal sometimes, thus getting to know these people better and then it would complicate things.

Plus, she found herself to be enjoying Johnathan's company far too much and, quite frankly, it worried her. He was too easy for her to talk too. Too cheery and appealing and easygoing.

He was so very different from Adrian, her ever somber and serious boyfriend. Adrian. How she missed him. She'd lost count of how many hours she had spent longing for him to be at her side again. How she missed his calm manner, his down to earth ways, so unlike herself.

He had always been a pillar in her life. Something safe and dependable.

And then she got that job offer, from Von Doom.

Even though it had broken her heart, she had left England, to pursue her dream-job.

She remembered going on that plane, kissing Adrian goodbye in the airport and his promise of coming after her as soon as he could.

They agreed that while she was in New York, she was going to look for a big apartment, where they could both live.

Adrian was set with the task to sell her apartment as well as his own, back in England. Moving to New York was a big decision and moving together at the same time was a very big step in their relationship. The ever logical Adrian argued that it would be cheaper and easier for them. She had been ready to move in with him for two years, but he had taken his time. She was always the rash one, while he was logical and mature in his ways. They fit perfectly for each other.

Of course, it hadn't been all perfect and they had experienced problems. They had had their arguments and disagreements, just like any couple.

For example, Adrian was very much against her going to space with Von Doom. They had argued and argued, she had promised him that it was perfectly safe, reassured him countless of times but he was still very uneasy about the whole situation. She, on the other hand, had been way excited, looking forward to the trip immensely.

And he had been so right. She had been affected by that storm and they had both suffered under it. Von Doom locked her up to hide her from the rest of the world. Von Doom knew that Adrian would find out about her missing immediately and so, he had captured him too. That was before he did all those tests on her, so she knew about Adrian's capture. And the guilt alone was enough to drive her crazy. He had been right! And now her stupid decision had cost him his freedom for who knows how long!

She stopped pacing around her room, sitting on the bed with a huff. She couldn't allow herself to dwell so much on the past. It wasn't healthy for her sanity.

She climbed under the covers, very well aware that Reed and Susan was returning the next day. And she had no idea what she was going to do.

Thank you to anyone who reviewed/alerted/favorited! Now, please review again, so I can upload this faster :D


	7. The Truth

Finals are over. Yay!

Erm, I will be traveling to Switzerland soon, so I probably wont be able to post anything for the next couple of weeks, though, if my father allows me to bring my computer with me, I can write while traveling. That means that I'll have chapters to upload when I get home. I wont be posting them while on vacation, sorry.

* * *

_This is it_.

This was irrevocably it.

Raven looked at the sleeping form of Reed, the kitchen knife in her hand. She was shaking badly and her breath came out in small forced puffs. She was afraid he would hear her frantically beating heart, in perfect symphony with her shallow breathing, but his eyes remained shut.

She took one step closer, her eyes refusing to leave the sight of his perfectly relaxed face. That face was completely oblivious of what was going on, his eyes un-knowing of what transpired on the other side of his closed lids.

She took a small step closer and stumbled slightly on her wobbly legs.

Reed stirred lightly in his position on the couch, his long frame curling up slightly.

_I can't do this. _She argued in her head, but the image of Adrian, dead and tortured on the floor of the cold steel lab in the Von Doom building was enough to make her take one step further.

_Adrian_

The past four days had consisted of switching between being normal and crazy. She had done her act convincingly, she believed, and everyone in the house knew she was unstable. Susan and Reed had been very excited when Johnny told them about her long periods of awareness and had asked countless of questions, aimed both at Johnny and Raven.

She looked at the knife in her hand and hesitantly took another step towards Reed, only six feet from him now.

_I have to do this. For Adrian._

Reed murmured in his sleep and sweat started upon Ravens brow. The knife sat, erect in her limp hand, and she forced her arm to raise slowly, the knife rising in the air, catching the fading red sunlight making it look morbid and deadly, but beautiful all the same.

Her entire body shook as she took a step closer, tears welling in her eyes. Everything was deadly silent, the very planet holding its breath at what was about to happen. She felt deaf, unable to hear anything but the rushing of her own blood in her ears.

She was next to the couch now, the knife raised high above her head, waiting to lay its blow. Her arm twitched and then, she brought the knife down, seemingly in slow motion.

_I'm going to save you, Adrian_

"NO!" a voice hollered and suddenly an ignited Johnny hit her full force, knocking her to the ground before she had the chance to plant the knife in Reeds heart. She landed on her stomach, still with the knife in hand as Johnny de-flamed and pressed his knee into her back harshly, kicking the knife from her hand.

Reed shot into a sitting position on the couch just as she let out a squeak of pain from Johnny's kick.

_I failed. Now Adrian is doomed. _

The realization hit her like a ton of bricks and, angrily, she wriggled away from underneath Johnny, sending a forceful splash of water into his face. Johnny looked at her shocked, before a fierce scowl marred his facial features.

She had been practicing her skills constantly the past days and had almost learned the full extent of her powers. She knew how to use the water she had already consumed and knew how to extract water from around her, if her inner stock should run out.

They stood ten feet apart, facing each other. Johnny's hands very engulfed in flames and the water pipes in the sink were rattling ominously.

Johnny attacked, sending an explosive fireball at her, which she easily put out with a splash of water. The two forces met in a hiss and steam rose into the air.

Johnny put more effort into the next fireball and Raven had to really concentrate in order to deflect it.

Soon, a continuous stream of fire erupted from Johnny's hands, along with an equally continuous stream of water from Raven's. The two forces met halfway between Johnny and Raven, creating so much steam, Reed had trouble seeing them properly. It was a truly frightening sight to behold, until Reed's prolonged arms wrapped firmly around both of them, effectively stopping them. Johnny protested angrily, trying to wriggle out of the death grip, while Raven shouted profanities at them, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Let me go, you stupid, life destroying idiot! You deserve to die, you ruined my life!" she knew that she had to keep the act up if she wanted to get out of this, so she continued her rant. "You, with your experiments, selfish acts and-"

"Shut up, Raven! Just stop!" Johnny roared, breathing unevenly with anger. Reed let go of him, burned from Johnny's high temperature, but kept his tight grip on her. So far, he hadn't said anything, apparently to shocked to find words to say. He simply watched and observed. She attempted to ignore Johnny but then he walked right up to her and in a deadly cold voice declared, "I know you are perfectly level headed. I know you are not mentally unstable."

She gapped at him, realizing that her cover had been blown.

"But, ho-.. what?"

"Your eyes, damn it! They changed the night you woke up, and they stayed the same." He elaborated, still glaring viciously at her.

She continued to stare him open mouthed.

He slumped his shoulders, a hurt look in his eyes. He glared at the ground his fists clenched. "I tried to figure out why you would keep up the pretense." Blue eyes shot up reluctantly and fixed her with an angry stare. His voice was strong and laced with the fury he was experiencing. "I'm not stupid, Raven. I know you're hiding something essential from us. Why else would you try to murder Reed?" at the last part he motioned to the man behind him.

Reed observed them both, his typical big eyed and innocent look plastered on his face.

"So tell me, Raven.. What is it you hope to achieve by robbing someone else's life from them? What did you have in mind? I know that you know Reed is not to blame for your situation, and so, revenge is not the reason. So what is it?" Johnny paced the floor slightly, unable to stay still.

Reed was utterly baffled. Waking up to someone trying to kill you was enough of a shock, but seeing Johnny like this was what truly amazed him. Never before had he seen the young, carefree playboy so serious and dangerous.

Raven stubbornly kept her mouth shut, but treacherous, fat tears streamed down her face.

"ANSWER ME!" He screamed. She jumped into the air in shock at the loudness of his voice.

She mentally tried to pull herself together, but felt her knees buckle underneath her anyway. At some point, she knew she would have to answer, but still, her mouth remained shut.

"She- she'll kill him" She hoarsely whispered after some time. Johnny froze from his pacing and looked at her with a scrutinizing gaze.

"She'll. Kill. Who?" Johnny didn't even seem to care who 'she' was. He planned on finding that out later.

Raven mentally pulled herself together. Saying his name out loud, to these people was the last thing she had ever wanted to do, but now she had to.

"Adrian." The name fell from her lips with such ease even though she sucked in a breath afterwards.

Knowing she'd have to elaborate, she continued. "When I first moved here, I-I was in a relationship with a guy named Adrian. After the accident, Von Doom took Adrian, so no-one would notice my missing. They still got him, and if I don't do what she says, Adrian dies." Her voice cracked. Admitting this to other people was almost too much.

"Let me get this straight.. You had to choose between Reed and this 'Adrian' guy and you didn't even for once consider what would happen if Reed died?" Johnny's voice was calm and low, but so strained and lazed with danger, she actually felt herself shake in fear.

"And not only did you complete ignore that fact that you would be _robbing_ my sister's husband from her, you didn't think about the rest of the world? Reed is one of the fantastic four! He saves lives every week!" at this point, Reed let go of Raven, but still stood in the background, not saying anything.

"And not just by fighting evil. He is one of the smartest people on earth! This guy practically invented fifty percent of all remedies used in the hospitals nowadays!"

"Actually, I only work out the theories, I don-"

"Shut it, limpy!"

Johnny stepped closer to her now and grabbed hold of her forearms. Their connected skin started sizzling and steaming as usual. "Are you really selfish enough to kill one of the most important people on earth in order to save your _boyfriend_?"

Raven was all but sobbing on the floor now; Johnny's grip on her arms the only thing keeping her up.

"Please, do not ask me to choose between Reed and Adrian. Because it will be him. It will_ always _be him."

His usually clear blue eyes were dark with anger and he looked at her with such hate and contempt, his face fixed into an ugly mask of fury.

"I-" She stammered, feeling her words get stuck in her throat, "I-I'm sorry, I-"

"NO! Sorry doesn't cut it! Sorry doesn't change anything! Sorry does not change the fact that you tried to murder Reed!" Johnny shook her shoulders frantically and she let out cries of pain from his tight grip.

"Johnny, please stop," Reed suddenly stood by the younger mans side and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "You're not thinking straight. Let her go."

"No Reed, I am perfectly levelheaded! How can you stand there and act so calm and forgiving, when you saw what she was going to do?" Johnny protested, but let go of her anyway.

Reed looked at the sobbing woman, kneeling on the floor, covering her face with her hands. "I'm not forgiving her. I just.. I understand why she would do it. I'd probably do the same for Susan."

Reed looked at her for a long time, his lips pressed together in thought. At length he ordered; "Take her to the guestroom and make sure she doesn't leave it." He looked seriously at Johnny, "We have to discuss this with Sue and Ben, before we do anything."

Johnny immediately did as told and, roughly, grabbed one of her arms, pulling her to her feet. Reed slumped down on the couch he'd been sleeping on only moments before and ran a hand through his hair, letting out the breath he had been holding.

Johnny half dragged her to the guestroom, completely ignoring her pained whimpers and her continuous sobbing. When he arrived at the door, he opened it and all but threw her into the room.

Raven landed on the floor, in the middle of the room. She turned around to look at Johnny, who stood in the doorway.

"You know, I really thought you were an okay person. I guess I-" He shook his head at everything and shut the door, locking it in the process.

Raven didn't move from her position on the floor, merely turned back around and slumped down into the rug. Her right hand throbbed from when Johnny had thrown her to the floor and her throat burned from the sobbing and whimpering.

Outside, night had fallen, leaving the guestroom dark and shadowy. Panic rose in her. Wherever she looked, all she could see was Adrian's dead body, bloody and tortured, and Teresa's leering and mocking face, grinning at her.

She tried to swipe the images away, arguing with herself that Adrian wasn't dead yet and hope wasn't lost. She told herself that she still could manage to do this, that she could still save him.

And then, reality kicked in.

She had failed and Adrian was doomed. These people knew about Adrian, they knew someone wanted Reed dead and they knew that Raven had been ready to do it, to save Adrian.

She was never going to get a shot at killing Reed again. And Adrian would die. Adrian would die!

An agonizing cry escaped her throat as she broke down on the floor, slowly loosing the will to live.

She would readily trade her own life for Adrian's, not that Teresa would let her do that.

She would do anything, _anything_, to save him, but the world was entirely against her. He was the only thing she had left.

Her parents were dead, she never had any siblings, nor did she posses any belongings anymore, and she was all alone, in America.

Raven slowly stood on wobbly legs, her entire body shaking, looking around the room for something she could use to take her own life with.

But there was nothing. Reed and Susan had taken good care, so there was nothing in the room she could use to harm herself with.

She let out a frustrated shriek before her legs buckled underneath her and she fell to the floor, fainted.

* * *

I got the idea for Ravens name from a song called "Code Name: Raven" by a band called House of Heroes.

if you don't know it, I highly recommend giving it a try. I really think it fits the story. If you decide to listen to it, please tell me what you think of it!

Thank you everyone who reviewed/favourited/alerted!

Please, leave a review :D


	8. The Planning

I'm back from the dead! Well, back from Switzerland, but same thing, right? Joking, I love Switzerland and this was my tenth time there. This chapter is longer than the usual but only slightly so.

Anyway, enjoy!

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"I totally don't see any reason for us to _help_ this girl, after what she tried to do!" Johnny repeated for what must've been the fifth time in half an hour. Ben nodded in agreement, but Susan and Reed wouldn't have any of it.

"Johnny, the girl was desperate." Susan pointed out, "Besides, we are helping Adrian, not Raven. He shouldn't die because of her mistakes." Johnny stopped his pacing and grabbed onto the chair he was standing behind. He pressed his lips together and looked sharply at Susan, then at Reed.

Since the incident hours before, Johnny had been a different person. He'd been serious and very grown up and it was putting everyone off balance. He was angry and vengeful, feelings they all knew were in him, but he rarely let out. Johnny was a hot head, easily angered, but quick to calm down again and right now, his judgment was clouded by this anger.

Reed nodded his agreement at Sue's statement and added, "We are superheroes. It's our job to help the people who need it. What Raven tried to do was.. unforgivable, but we can't let that cloud our judgment. Had anyone else been in this 'Adrian's' situation, we would leap to their assistance immediately, without a second thought."

Johnny sigh exasperated and threw his arms up in a quitting manner. He reassumed his pacing. Sue, who was standing behind the chair Reed was sitting in, watched her brother worried. She didn't understand why this would affect him so much more than everyone else. Johnny and Reed got along just fine, but the two was on entirely different levels than the other, and so they weren't exactly best friends. She'd imagine Ben or herself being more affected by an attempt murder on Reed, but found Johnny to be a lot more shook up than them, or at least, reacting more violently to it.

Ben, who had been very quiet throughout the whole debate, suddenly added, "You guys seem to be forgetting something. Who is 'She'? Who is the woman Ra-this girl was talkin' 'bout? Someone wants Reed dead, guys."

Reed sighed in a resigned manner and raised his eyebrows while flicking his hands in a defeated manner.

"Ben, go get the girl. She'll have to explain what is going on."

Two minutes later found Raven seated in the chair across from Reed, looking very put together, given her situation.

The four superheroes were on the other side of the table, Sue, Reed and Ben sitting down and Johnny standing behind them, his arms crossed. Nobody said anything for quite some time. Raven was staring at the table, sitting in a stiff position on the chair and everybody else regarded her for a moment.

At length, Reed asked: "Raven, would you be willing to answer some questions?"

She looked up at Reed with wide, honest eyes and a look of cooperation. "I'll do what I can," she promised.

Everybody chose to ignore Johnny's huff of disbelief.

"What happened to you, after Von Doom was put in jail? Who took care of you then?"

Raven shrugged her thin shoulders, folded her hands and said: "Mostly scientists."

"Was it the same scientists who wanted to kill me?" the question seemed very forward and Raven took a sharp intake of breath, involuntarily showing the mess underneath the calm façade.

"No. No, that was someone else, entirely." She dared to look at Reed shortly, "That was Von Dooms sister, Teresa. When I was locked up, she often came down, during my experiments."

This time, Johnny's resentful and unbelieving scoff was hard to ignore and Ravens grey eyes snapped up to regard him for a moment. She raised her eyebrows in a silent challenge.

"Nobody knew about his sister until after he died. The world still doesn't believe that she really _is_ his sister and you're telling me that she's been prancing around the Von Doom building for _years?_" Johnny felt the need to point out and the other males nodded in agreement.

"Yes, that is exactly what I am telling you. As for your doubts, I can assure you, she is his sister. They are alike in every way, even looks. And she is every bit as cruel as Von Doom"

"You know, I did once see a tall dark haired woman converse with him. When I asked who it was he didn't answer at all and I saw her only once or twice after that." Sue suddenly added, "She looked like someone straight out of a spy movie."

Raven nodded her head in confirmation. "She is. Spy for some company I don't know about. After Von Dooms death, she visited me again, told me that you had killed him and set me loose after I promised to 'avenge my master'" she wrinkled her nose at referring to him as master.

"How'd you know all this?"

"I may have snooped around in the company's system."

Reed decided to join the conversation. "How come we've never heard of her until after his death?" he furrowed his brow at her.

"You can hardly be a professional spy and sister to Victor Von Doom at the same time. She only became 'public' because she took over his business." Raven pointed out, "She likes her secrecy. Not many people knew about her. Unfortunately I got to know her very well.." she faded out and her eyes got glossy. She stared at some point on the wall behind them and they all got a good glimpse of the inner panic, turmoil and desperation she was going through, underneath her façade. "And so did Adrian."

She clenched her fists and glared at the table, the first tear slipping from her eye.

For two minutes she sat still as a rock, as did the fantastic four, waiting for her to proceed in some kind of way. Suddenly, she snapped her head back up and gave every single one of them a piercing glare, before speaking through clenched teeth.

"Look, I didn't want you kill, okay? I didn't mean for any of this to happen, but Adrian is MY responsibility now, I got him into this mess and I am ready to do _anything _to get him out of it. He shouldn't have to suffer because of the poor choices I made."

"Well, too bad, he already has." Johnny angrily said in sarcastic tones, earning him a glare from Sue and Ben.

"We intend to free Adrian. We – or I – feel partially responsible for what happened" Reed reassured her. He gave her a look, nothing short of pity. She stared at him, her expression torn between relief and anger. Eventually, the relief won out.

"I thank you, Richards that after all I've done, you're still willing to help me."

Reed shot her a very sharp look and replied: "I am not helping you: I am helping Adrian."

Ravens face fell slightly, but she recovered rather quickly. "I understand," she assured him.

"Well, I guess that was it, then. I've only one question left to ask: Why does this Teresa want me dead?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Raven frowned, "Revenge! You killed her brother. She wants revenge!"

"That was, technically, himself." Johnny childishly pointed out, "He killed himself."

"Yes, but try to explain that to a mourning sister."

They were all quiet for some time again and then Reed asked Johnny to take her back to her room. He did so, with a permanent scowl on his face.

"You really must've though I was a complete idiot.. Trying to act like you were still crazy, so you could kill Reed easier." Johnny murmured after they entered her room. His face betrayed his feelings of hurt, but she looked frostily at him and didn't grant him an answer.

In return, he forced the hurt look to leave and stared back at her blankly, before leaving the room.

"Yeah, I'm gonna head out guys. I'll probably crash at my own place tonight. See ya tomorrow." Johnny said in a rush and was out the door before the others even recognized his words.

He walked the short distance to his own apartment in a couple of minutes.

Everywhere the bars were open and he could hear wild parties going on all around him. _I need to rejoin the nightlife, h_e decided and picked up speed.

Half an hour later, he was freshly showered and in a new outfit, already ordering a drink and shooting every available lady a charming smile, ready to take on the night.

Because when Johnny Storm parties, it always involves alcohol and chicks.

Two hours and many drinks later, Johnny had just finished reeling in his newest conquest.

She was tall with impossibly long legs and hourglass figure and long dark brown hair, looking like a Victoria Secrets model, just like he liked them. She'd been fairly easy to win over. She was slightly tipsy from drinking and, using his charm, she'd agreed to accompany him home pretty quickly.

Being a superhero and having saved the world was also a winning factor. That alone, was usually enough to win over most women. Well, women he associated with, anyway.

He spent the walk to his apartment whispering sweet nothings in her ears, making her giggle continuously. As they reached his apartment, he let her in first and allowed her to look around for a bit. He knew it would make her feel like he respected her and that was essential, if he was going to get any tonight.

He poured them both another drink, while she finished the tour of his place.

Handing it to her, she smiled impossibly brightly at him and quickly downed the drink, slamming the glass on the table. Johnny set his own down, knowing what came next, not quite able to stop a smirk. She walked to him slowly and smiled suggestively at him before kissing him seductively.

"My lady," he whispered in her ear minutes later, "Are you ready to be burned up by the human torch?"

* * *

The next morning Johnny was rudely woken by his phone going off. Detaching himself from the naked, waking woman next to him, he picked it up and sleepily answered.

"Mm, go away." his voice was thick from sleeping and a yawn burst from his mouth.

"Aren't you up yet? It's nearly eleven!" the woman stirred next to him and moaned, before stretching slightly.

"And it's good to talk to you too, Susan."

"We have serious business to attend to and you choose to sleep in? You are impossible!" she sounded really annoyed, but that was nothing new for Johnny.

"You know, I'd have a really clever retort for that, but I'm too tired to care.. Can you just say what's up and leave me alone?"

"Johnny, you will not be going back to bed! You have to get over here, now!" He felt her wrap her arm around his torso while kissing his shoulder. He smirked slightly, at the feel of her breasts pressed to his back, but shrugged her off and lay down on his back.

"Fine.. I'll be right there." He gave in and tossed his phone onto the nightstand. "Well, this is something I wouldn't mind waking up to," he said to her with a charming smile. She giggled and kissed him briefly on the lips, before he pulled away.

"Babe, I'm really sorry, but I have to go. Ya know, superhero business." She looked at him in adoration, until he said; "You know the way out by yourself, right?"

Five minutes later, she was gone and Johnny was sporting a red mark on his face.

"Women.." He quickly got dressed, deciding wearing his suit underneath his usual t-shirt, leather jacket and jeans.

He was already out the door and waiting in line by the nearest coffee shop when he remembered why he was even going to the Baxter Building.

They were going to figure out how to save 'Adrian'.

With a sigh, he abandoned the coffee shop, opting to get something edible when he arrived, knowing that he couldn't allow his usual tardiness.

* * *

"What kept ya?" Ben gruffly questioned when Johnny strolled into the lab ten minutes later.

"Had a little.. female problem." Ben noticed the red mark on his cheek and burst out laughing. Johnny glared at him, but couldn't prevent an amused smirk from slipping into place. The grin fell quickly, because at that moment, Raven entered the lab. Johnny's face fell into an expressionless state and he eyed her coldly. She met his gaze evenly and he quickly glared at the ground instead, digging his hands into his pockets.

She looked nun-pulsed and turned her gaze to Ben instead, who just looked back at her.

Ben Grimm always had an opinion about every single person he met, an opinion that was often proven to be right. He could count on one hand the people he'd been wrong about. Johnny Storm was one of them. But he didn't know what to do about this girl. He wasn't able to figure her out and couldn't place her in any of his boxes and it made him uneasy.

A minute passed in complete awkwardness before Reed and Sue came in. Sue gave Johnny a congratulating smile, glad that he was on time for once.

"Okay guys, time to brainstorm." Reed clapped his hands together, "We need a plan. I've asked Raven to be here, since she knows a lot more about Teresa Von Doom than we do."

Ben, Sue and Reed looked expectantly at her, while Johnny continued his sulking stance against the table, with his arms crossed. Raven looked at each of them in return, before unfolding her arms and walking over to the table where there were the maps of the Von Doom building, which Reed had acquired.

She studied them for a moment, before motioning at a certain point. "Here. This was where I was kept. I believe Adrian would be nearby. I don't recall any other places ideal for locking up people." The last part was said with barely concealed bitterness.

"Well, we'll need to know the security password to get down there." Reed stood next to her, completely at ease, as if she hadn't tried to kill him the day before and looked at where she was pointing. "That place is heavily guarded."

"I do believe I can be of assistance in that particular area. I am familiar with the buildings security system, having worked there." Raven pointed out, "The passwords have undoubtedly been changed in the past five years, but I should be able to break it."

"What're you, a hacker?" Johnny asked sarcastically.

"Yes." She deadpanned. "Or rather, an expert on electronical devices and computer systems."

"Ah."

"If I can hack into their system and disable all door locks, then you, Mrs. Richards, should be able to go in and locate him."

Reed nodded in agreement. "I'll provide you with a tracking device, so you can alert the rest of us, when you find him." He told Susan, who nodded and looked at the map. "I think I'll need a map to find my way down there. Those underground labs are maces!" she pointed at the many tunnels, rooms and doors and Reed promised to put en electronical map into the tracking device, he was going to build.

"Then, when you find him, you'll alert us and we'll down there to help you guys out." Johnny finished. "This could work!"

"I should mention that there is a deadline." Raven suddenly said.

Everyone snapped their attention back to her. "Teresa gave me a week to.. finish the job, and that deadline is met tomorrow."

* * *

Well, hope you enjoyed it and please, leave a review!


	9. The Doors

Not my longest, but that's because I had to save all the juice for the next chapter.

* * *

Hacking into the Von Doom network was surprisingly hard, considering that Raven had worked with the system before. She sat for hours working and only finished well into the night. By morning, she was exhausted after only three hours of sleep, but she knew that sleep was a luxury she couldn't afford right now.

"Ready?" Reed walked into the kitchen, where Raven sat, papers in hand. They were the only ones up.

"I hope so. I have all security codes written down, but I'm not familiar with their system and security anymore. I have no idea what you should expect." Reed placed a cup of coffee in front of her and she gratefully took a sip. Right now, she needed caffeine more than anything. He sat down across from her and she handed him the papers. He began writing all the security passwords into the tracking device Susan would bring with her.

They sat in a fairly comfortable silence, but Raven knew that there was something they needed to talk out.

"I really am sorry, Doctor Richards. I'm sorry for suddenly coming into the fantastic four's life and complicating everything. I know you guys had hoped to see the last of any Von Doom after Victor died."

"Yup, that plan you pretty much spoiled." Johnny Storm entered the room and casually leaned against the door, his signature smirk in place. "Not cool."

"Johnny.." Reed said exasperated, "its okay, Raven. I'd rather you came to us than not knowing that two people were imprisoned in the Von Doom building."

She offered him a weak smile and distracted herself with her coffee. She hadn't apologized for trying to kill him: she realized that she'd been ready to sacrifice him in order to save Adrian. It ate at her heart, but she couldn't bring herself to act like she regretted it. She'd made her choice and if she didn't stand by it, she'd be false.

Johnny, who was wearing his blue Fantastic Four suit, walked to the table and snatched Reeds coffee from him. The scientist didn't even look up from his work; he stretched his arm to the kitchen and grabbed a new cup along with the coffee pot.

Sometime later Reed finished putting the data into the device and put it away. Looking up, he had a certain spark in his eye. He was glad to get out there after weeks of doing nothing.

"So, Johnny, are you completely updated on what you're supposed to be doing?"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it memorized. No worries, brainy." Johnny gave him a casual smile before mischievously turning to Raven with a sly look.

"You ready to fight alongside the greatest superheroes in the world?" This actually startled a laugh out of her and she replied; "I'm hardly going to be doing any fighting. You four are going to be doing all the work."

Johnny was excited too, Raven judged, if his good mood was anything to go by. His attitude towards her had changed radically overnight.

"I'll go wake Sue. Better call Ben too. He should've been over by now." Reed left the room. Three seconds later, his arm shot in and grabbed the papers and electronics he'd left there. Raven scrunched her nose at the rubber arm. Johnny noticed and laughed loudly.

"That still creeps me out after years."

"It doesn't creep me out as much as it.. doesn't it hurt? And what happens to his bones?"

Johnny shrugged. "No idea. But Reed's got it written down somewhere. We all have our personal file, but I never bothered to read 'em."

"Really? Not even your own?" Raven arched an eyebrow. "Nope" he popped the 'p' and sipped his coffee.

They sat quietly for a moment until Raven's curiosity won over. "So.. why the change of heart? I mean, you had a stick up your ass all day yesterday."

Johnny chocked on his coffee and spluttered liquid everywhere. He glared slightly at her and she quickly, with a wave of two fingers, floated the liquid back into the cup.

"Well, I know this may come as a shocker.. but Johnny Storm has a great temper." Raven snorted. "hey, the giant don't call me hot head for nothin'. Anyway, I decided that if I'm gonna be working with you, I shouldn't be mad at you, but the one we're working against."

Raven could hardly protest against _that_ logic.

"But when this is all over, I'll be mad at you all over again." He pointed a finger sternly at her and she found herself nodding at him wide eyed.

At that moment, Ben entered, followed shortly by Susan and Reed. They all sat around the table and Raven couldn't help but notice that excited, yet serious, air around them. She realized that the fantastic four had been out of business for a while now and the prospect of seeing some action again was thrilling.

While they were excited, Raven was extremely anxious and nervous.

Their plan was risky and could easily fail. And so much depended on her. It was positively nerve-racking.

Reed handed Susan the small tracker she was going to use, giving her a few instructions along the way, and they were off.

* * *

"I've entered the building unnoticed" Susan informed.

"Good." Reed said, but was interrupted by Raven.

"Do you know where to go next?" She anxiously asked.

"Yes, relax, I have the map of the building."

Raven held her breath as silence followed from the other side of the communicator. Everything could go wrong! What if Susan got lost? What if she was discovered? What if she couldn't find Adrian?

She tried to relax and slow her breathing. Of course Susan wouldn't get lost, she was a smart woman. Of course nobody would find her, she was invisible! But Raven couldn't be sure that Susan would find Adrian. That wasn't a given. Maybe he wasn't even in the building. Maybe he was somewhere else entirely.

Meanwhile, Susan reached the end of an impossibly long corridor. The corridor was wide and airy, just like the rest of the building and all the doors were labeled with numbers and letters. So far, she'd been really lucky and had not met anyone. She peeked at the map again and counted the doors on the left side, finding the one she was supposed to go through.

Entering a new corridor, this one smaller, with fewer doors, she did the same. This time, the door she passed through was heavy and made entirely from steel. After typing in the required password, it opened with a small squeak, a telltale sign of not being used that much.

The next room was very small and only had two doors. One was made from wood and the other was an imposing big steel door with a sign on it. On the sign stood, with big letters: "DO NOT ENTER. DANGER OF RADIATION."

"Guys, there's a problem. I've followed the instructions perfectly, but now I have to go through a door with a warning against radiation on it."

"Don't go down there Sue. It could be dangerous. We'll have to figure something else out." Reed sighed dejected, ready to call off the mission, but Raven cut in.

"It has to be a trick. I've been behind the door for five years and I've not been exposed to radiation."

"Perhaps it's to make sure that people don't go in there?" Susan suggested and Raven made a noise of agreement. Over the communicator, she could her Susan pulling the handle down.

"I'm in." she said and Raven breathed a sigh of relief. They were so close!

On the other side of the door Susan found stairs, leading downwards, to a poorly lit laboratory. The place seemed abandoned, as if nobody had used it for years.

She didn't dare to turn the real lights on, for fear of security cameras, so she walked further into the room, squinting to see properly in the dim light.

* * *

Raven sat by the computers in Reeds laboratory for a few minutes longer, until she remembered that Teresa couldn't see that she was hacking into the security system.

Then, she stood up and went into the living room, sitting in the couch facing the balcony, where she knew Teresa would come from.

She pulled up a science magazine, which rested on the coffee table, but she was far too distracted to actually take in the words; she was only reading to calm herself down. It worked slightly. She knew that she needed to appear sure and believable in order to stall Teresa for as long as possible; giving the others the chance they needed to locate and rescue Adrian. She'd have to play the scared victim, something Teresa would take great pleasure in.

Moment later, she heard faint footsteps outside the balcony door and, looking up immediately to display that she was scared of Teresa, she saw said woman, standing on the balcony.

* * *

Susan grew more and more angry and disgusted the more she walked around the lab. She'd found several files about Raven's condition and even a journal, which described the experiments that were performed on her in great detail. She decided to keep them, hoping that they'd give them a lot of answers to question they might've had.

The lab in itself was quite impressive. It had everything a scientist needed. One wall was filled to the brim with books on any scientifical subject. In the middle of the room was a great table and on another wall was a whiteboard, where there still was some half-finished calculations scribbled. On the third wall, from the floor to the ceiling, were lockers with glass doors containing any instrument a scientist could ever need. Susan paid little mind to them though, for in one of the corners of the room, was a huge machine, large enough to contain a human being.

And that was exactly what it was for.

Susan could, with only a small peek at it, tell that this was the machine they had used to manipulate with Raven's brain and memory.

She felt the need to destroy it, but didn't for fear of alerting anyone of her presence. Instead, she clenched her teeth and fists and, silently, she reached the end of the long lab and was met with another door.

* * *

"You've been a disappointment, Raven." Teresa looked composed, but she was angry. Raven could tell. "The news channels haven't spoken of Reed Richards death yet. Didn't you follow orders?"

Raven quickly gathered her thoughts. This was it. She had to play her part convincingly if Adrian was to be saved.

She sighed in defeat and looked at Teresa pleadingly. "The Fantastic Four are tough. I can't take them all out at once. I had to wait for him to be here alone and that opportunity hasn't come up yet."

Teresa walked further into the room and looked long and hard at Raven. "And what do you plan to do then? Your time is up.."

"Tomorrow, Teresa. Tomorrow The Thing will be out of the building on a date, The Human Torch is at a party and The Invisible Woman is away too. I will be able to do what you requested then." Raven looked at her with wide eyes, "Please! You have to give me one more day! I promise that I'll get it done by then."

Teresa sighed melodramatically and sat on the couch. "Raven, Raven, Raven.." she began, with a shake of her head, "I can't afford to cut you some slack. If I started doing that, you'd get lazy." She smirked up at Raven who was pacing around the floor.

"You have to give me one more day! If you kill Adrian, nothing is tying me to you and then I certainly WON'T be doing your dirty job!"

Teresa scowled at her and stood up in front of her. She pointed a finger menacingly at her.

"One day. That is all you get. If you fail me again, he will suffer grea-"

* * *

Susan entered the new room to find another hall. This one was barely lit and on both sides, doors were lined.

She knew that this was where Adrian was kept. Behind one of the doors, he was imprisoned. Behind one of the ten, black doors.

Her heart was hammering away in her chest, as she reached out and pulled the handle of the first door.

Empty.

A slight disappointment flashed through her, but she moved on and opened the next.

This one was empty too.

She hurried and pushed open the next door, but the next room was utterly empty too.

After the fourth door, she could feel sweat form on her brow.

There were only six doors left in the hall.

He had to be there!

The fifth and sixth room wasn't empty, but cramped with boxes and instruments for experiments.

She let out a huff of air and opened the eighth door. It was empty.

And so was the ninth.

"Please, please." She whispered silently. She approached the tenth door, fighting her dread, and, with shaking hands, pulled the handle.

* * *

How's that for a cliffhanger! In fact, I managed to make TWO cliffhangers in ONE chapter!

Shit's going down in the next one. So review! Review and I'll update faster ;)


	10. The Death

Hey! Sorry if this took longer than expected, but I was at my cousins for four days and was unable to write. Hope you can forgive me :)

* * *

"He will not suffer greatly, because I won't let you hurt him ever again!" Raven cut Teresa off, something which took a lot of nerve for her. Defying Teresa was something she'd never been able to do before. Teresa was an intimidating woman, partly because of her many years as a spy and assassin and partly because of the look in her cold, dead grey eyes.

Teresa looked partly amused and partly miffed at Raven's outburst. She huffed and scrunched up her nose.

"I already thought we'd settled this out: You can't tell me what to do or not do: I own you."

Raven actually laughed bitterly at this before answering. "You don't own me. No one owns me. And you won't own Adrian for very long either. That is something I can promise you."

The two women stood, facing each other, sizing the other up. Teresa was greatly confused by Raven's sudden rebellion. Why would she, a woman who'd always been afraid of her, suddenly act so fearless? Teresa was not stupid. She knew that something was up. She knew that there was some sort of trap laid out for her. And so, she did the only natural thing. She did what she'd learned from a very early age was the right thing to do. She attacked. Verbally.

"Raven.. have you forgotten everything about the last five years? Have you forgotten just how MUCH I own you?" Teresa looked at her as if she was brain dead.

Raven almost growled out in anger. As if she could ever forget! Anger coursed through her so hard, she could almost feel it physically. An icy cold feeling filled her veins and before she managed to stop herself, or even register what she was doing, she let out a frustrated cry and lunged for Teresa.

Teresa was not prepared for this, but she was a highly trained spy and because of her years of training and fast reflexes, she dodged.

Raven turned around and faced Teresa again, lowering herself into an attacking position: in middle school, she'd been in a self defense club, of sorts, for two years. She knew how to pack a punch, but she'd been out of training for at least twelve years and Teresa was more than capable of taking her out immediately.

In fact, Teresa looked at her aggressive stance with a conflicted look of amusement and insult on her face, as if she was insulted by the mere thought of Raven trying to attack her and that the very same thought was the most amusing thing in the world.

"You don't really want to do this." Teresa pointed out, but got into a fighting stance too, as if playing along with a toddlers game.

A fire was in Raven's eye.

"Oh, I think I do."

And then, the sink burst open, completely drenching Teresa with a forceful splash of the cold water.

She looked at Raven in an annoyed way, like an older sister, tired of their sibling's antics.

"Cute. But ineffective." She smirked and leaped for Raven, who dodged at the last second. But, before Raven had time to attack her, Teresa had kicked her feet away from under her and she was on the floor.

She focused on the water again and it hit Teresa forcefully, making her loose her balance slightly.

Raven sprang to her feet and they were facing each other again.

"What do you hope to accomplish with this? No matter what, I'm going to have the advantage. I have that, which you love the most. And I have the power to take him away."

"NO! I will NOT let you hurt him!" Raven's teeth were clenched as she spit out the words, her body shaking from anger and her rapid breathing. Teresa raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms.

"And how do you hope to stop me from hurting him?"

"With the help of the fantastic four." Teresa whipped around as Johnny landed on the floor right behind her. His arms were fiery torches and he glared hard at her.

She regarded him for a moment, before a wide smile plastered onto her face and she began chuckling.

"So _this_ was your little trap? You plan to set the superheroes on me?" She looked mock offended at Raven. "How very disappointing." She looked around in fake fear, "So where are the others? Are they waiting to spring out from other corners of the room, like this one did?" she pointed at Johnny.

Raven smirked slightly. "No. they are in the Von Doom building, rescuing Adrian."

Teresa's face darkened.

* * *

Empty. The room was empty. Susan looked at the gaping darkness, which had been supposed to contain the man. He wasn't here!

She felt the disappointment, like a fire through her body and she started shaking slightly. What was she supposed to do now? What was their next move? She tried to remember what they had planned, tried to recall what Reed had told her to do, but all she could do was look into the blackness of the room, a blank look on her face. What was she going to tell Raven? What if he was here, but not in one of those rooms? Where else would they keep prisoners? Sue drew a blank to all of the questions in her head. She just stood, a little longer and collected her thoughts. A few minutes later, she turned around and headed into the lab again. She picked up the items she'd found and slammed them down onto the table.

The journal. That journal had to mention when he came here and maybe even where he was.

She skimmed the pages briefly, but found that all of them concerned the progress of the experiments. Not a single line revealed Adrian's whereabouts, he wasn't even mentioned!

With a sigh, and shaking hands, she pressed the button on the communicator, currently strapped to her ear and spoke into it.

"He's not here, Raven."

* * *

"That's right! While you wasted your time, arguing with _me_, they entered the building and found him. They've probably already-"

"He's not here, Raven." Raven froze, when she heard Susan's voice in the communicator, which was still in her ear. The arm she had raised to point at Teresa shook and her eyes were wide in horror. Johnny looked at her with a look of realization and sympathy and Teresa looked at her darkly.

Raven sucked in a shuddering breath.

"Where is he?" Raven's voice was deadly and cold.

Teresa allowed a small, but wicked, smile. "I don't know, actually. I think they dumped him in the ocean.. After my brother electrocuted him into pieces, of course."

"NO! You liar!" Raven screamed. She shook her head and stared wide eyed at Teresa. Teresa glared at her. "I don't lie. At least," She smiled slightly "not unless I really have to." She smiled sweetly and Raven, who was frozen in place, her breathing hard and forced.

Raven couldn't believe it. Not because it seemed like a lie, but because she had to. If she believed that he really was dead, she didn't know what she was supposed to do. How she was going to survive. It was too surreal, but too plausible at the same time.

She barely felt when she fell onto her knees, she barely felt herself almost hyperventilate. She didn't even register Johnny pulling her up from her kneeing, she was in shock. She felt like Teresa had punched all air out of her lungs and replaced it with acid, which was now burning her up from the inside.

Johnny turned to Teresa. He felt hate lick at his very core, like the flames that were quickly covering his whole body. He had every intention to hurt her, burn her up if necessary. The violent feelings and thoughts scared him to death, but he pushed the emotion away, saving it for later.

He took a step forward, but before he could reach her, she whipped out a gun and aimed it right at him.

He glared at her, but a dark chuckle left him. "How do you intend to hurt me with a gun? I can melt the bullet, before it even reaches me. You can't kill fire with fire."

She tensed up for a split second and then, to his horror, aimed the gun a Raven, who was still on her knees.

"Take one step further, 'hero' and she dies."

Johnny put up his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay! I won't." She stepped towards the elevator door, in a circle around the two, never moving her gun away from Raven.

She jabbed her elbow into the button, her back against the door, her eyes never moving from Johnny.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, the elevator 'ding'ed open and she stepped in. She pressed the lobby button, but just before the doors closed, she fixed Johnny with a stare and said: "I warn you 'hero'. This isn't over. We'll meet again."

As soon as the door closed, Johnny de-flamed and dropped to his knees next to Raven. Tentatively, he put a hand on her shoulder. She flinched, but allowed it. Her hand came up and grabbed his and he wrapped his other arm around her, so he was hugging her sideways. Both of her arms held onto one of his. Her whole body was shaking, but she did not cry. Instead, she let out a loud roar. Not a scream or a wail, but a throaty, hurting roar, which echoed around the huge lab. The sound briefly reminded Johnny of a wounded animal.

He gently took the earpiece from her ear and spoke into it.

"Guys? You have to get back now."

Static noise reached him for a few seconds and then Reed could be heard. "Why? What's happening?" he asked. Johnny took a deep breath. "Raven needs you. Adrian is.. he's dead."

Raven's grip on him tightened to the point where it hurt and he felt like she was punishing him for saying those treacherous words.

He wanted to tell her that everything was going to be okay, but he realized that, for her, everything probably wouldn't. Everything wasn't going to be okay. Not for a long while. He wished to comfort her, but he was way over his head in this. He'd never been in love and therefore, he'd never lost someone that important to him. He knew he couldn't possibly know what she was going through. And yet, he'd seen his own sister, the one person in the world he loved most, die right in front of him. So, he knew what it was like to lose someone. But Sue had turned out all right and everything had been good. He hadn't lost his sister and that feeling of complete and utter sorrow disappeared.

Still, that feeling was remembered. He remembered how devastated he was. How he refused to believe it. And he realized that whatever he had felt back then, Raven felt a hundred times worse.

Because as much as he loved his sister, it was nothing compared to the I-am-so-in-love-with-you-I-can't-live-without-you feelings that most couples felt.

But, to a length, he knew how she felt. And it scared him even more than the violent emotions he had had minutes before. He was scared for her and scared of what she might do to herself. She would blame herself forever, because the only reason he was killed was because she went into space.

"We're coming." Reed replied. Johnny breathed a sigh of relief. Susan and Reed would be much better at this. They'd know what to do. After all, Reed knew what it was like to lose the person you love.

Johnny looked down at Raven again. She hadn't moved from her spot on the floor. Her head was bowed and her eyes shut tight, but she didn't cry. She was in shock. She was numb. She felt the pain and sorrow, but she was unable to comprehend it. Unable to fully understand what Teresa had told her.

Until Johnny rewrapped his arms around her.

Because, for a split second, she though they belonged to Adrian and she grabbed hold of his hand, only for it to start steaming. Then, she realized that it wasn't Adrian but Johnny and that shock alone was enough to shake her awake. She understood. Adrian was dead, because of her. It wasn't Adrian holding her, it was Johnny. Not Adrian, Johnny.

Not Adrian.

Adrian.

And then, the tears came. Slowly, they slipped from her eyes. She didn't cry or wail or sniff. The tears just streamed down her face. She was unable to hold them back and she didn't want to. She didn't care about them and she didn't bother to wipe them away. And she grip on Johnny's hand tightened as her other hand held onto his forearm.

And he didn't say anything, just held her, and for some reason, it helped her far better than any empty words he could've said. He didn't assure her that everything was going to be fine. He didn't say he was sorry, and why should he? He had nothing to apologize for! But, most importantly, he didn't try to tell her that she wasn't to blame. And that was important to her, because they both knew that she was partly to blame. And neither tried to lie about it.

It was refreshing and she found comfort in knowing that he understood her that well. She found comfort in knowing that she wasn't alone, that she had people around her who would do anything to help her.

And right now, all the help she needed, was his comforting arms around her and his silence.

Fifteen minutes later, the others came home, surprised to see them in the middle of the lab in a kneeling embrace.

Susan tried to talk to her, tried to reassure her. She said all the things that Raven was so glad Johnny hadn't said. She said that it was going to be okay, to she was so sorry and that it wasn't Ravens fault. It made Raven want to puke. She knew that Susan was only trying to help, but she didn't realize that Raven didn't want to hear this. Next came Reed. He told her that he was sorry for her loss. He explained that they had looked everywhere they could and that they'd done everything to find him.

Reed's calm answer and all the facts and equations he jabbed off, helped strangely. But not as much as Johnny's arms had. He'd let go of her when the others came back and she wanted to hug him again. She couldn't explain why. It was probably because he was the one who woke her up and he was the one who heard what Teresa said. He'd helped her through her panic attacks and he'd been the anchor that kept her grounded. She had simply learned that his embrace was the best therapy for her.

And all the empty words from the others paled in comparison.

Half an hour later, she excused herself and went to her room. She sat down on the bed, oddly calm and stared at the wall, for several hours, before she fell asleep.

* * *

Well, I'm happy to say that the story is getting somewhere!

The last chapter got a lot of reviews, probably because of the cliffies. How about we repeat that succes? I do love reviews :)

So, hope you enjoyed this chapter and please leave a review!


	11. The Party

Yay, this chapter is really long! I hope you guys like it! I'd say it was a filler, but it is important in the aspect of building up Raven and Johnny's relationship.

* * *

A few days went by and the others thought that Raven was coping rather well. She stayed mostly in her room, but that was to be expected, Sue said. When she was out, and the others got a chance to talk to her, she responded without much emotions and she didn't say anything besides that. She went out on the balcony once or twice and she often took long showers, but she didn't seem downright depressed of suicidal, so all in all, she was doing surprisingly well.

Well, they _thought_ she was doing well. Until Susan realized that she wasn't eating. At all. Perhaps it was a way to punish herself, perhaps it was because she didn't have an appetite anymore, but Raven simply never came out to join them for dinner and she never came out during the day for a snack. The little weight she had gained since arriving was lost and she look like a wraith again.

Determined to get her to eat, Susan daily cooked the most delicious meals she knew, hoping that Raven would eat any of it.

Every day, she tried to make Raven eat, but the girl was stubborn. It took Susan over an hour to convince her to eat anything at all, and when she did it was scarcely more than three mouthfuls.

"I'm just not hungry." She said, even though both women knew it was a lie.

Susan was at her wits end. She really did try everything and she feared for Raven's life. After two weeks, she almost gave up.

"I can't deal with this!" she said frustrated, "I can't use all my time, forcing her to eat, but I can't let her starve herself either!" She put her head in her hands and the three men looked at her with sympathy.

"Sue, why don't you take the day off?" Reed suggested, "We'll make sure she eats while you're away."

"We will?" Johnny suddenly sat straight from his former relaxed position at the table, his head no longer resting on his arms.

"Yes, we will." Ben slapped him over the head and it hurt more than Johnny would've cared to admit.

Susan smiled sweetly at them and accepted.

Fifteen minutes later, she was almost out the door. "I'll be back tonight. You'll have to cook dinner yourself."

Reed, Johnny and Ben looked at each other with slightly panicked expressions.

"Pizza." They all agreed in unison, before disappearing off in different directions.

* * *

At three o'clock, Reed remembered that Raven had to be fed. Ben was away and Reed himself was sooo close to finishing up his newest research, he couldn't possibly stop right now.

He walked into the living room, where Johnny was currently lounging on the sofa, playing some game.

"Would you look at the time! It's already time for lunch." He hinted.

"Nah, I already ate. Not hungry." Johnny barely registered what Reed was saying, much less his less-than-subtle hints.

"Well, someone has to make sure Raven eats." He eyed Johnny very persistently.

"Hmm.." Johnny didn't look away from the television. A few seconds later, his head snapped up to look at Reed. "No."

"But, Johnny-"

"Nu-hu! I'm not doing it! I've got better things to do!"

Reed couldn't help but raise a skeptical eyebrow, first at the man on the couch, then at the television.

"Johnny, I've almost finished a new, potentionally revolutionary, theory. Please."

Johnny put down the controller and groaned loudly, laying down completely on the couch and rubbing his face in a tired manner.

"I'm gonna regret this." He clarified, but stood up anyways.

He sauntered into the kitchen, where he opened the refrigerator. "What does she eat?" He questioned with a slightly irritated look on his face.

"I suspect she eats what anyone else does." Reed commented. Johnny turned to him with a slight glare.

"Clever. Didn't you have a revolutionary theory to finish?" Reed nodded solemnly and left the kitchen.

Unbelievable! Johnny Storm, one of the greatest superheroes on earth, was demoted to acting as a babysitter! For a grown woman!

He grumbled as his hold on the refrigerators handle hardened. He spotted some cold pasta and pulled it out. Shoving the pasta into the microwave, he gave a start when he saw the refrigerators handle: It was melted so it fit in his fist perfectly.

A sigh left his lips just as the microwave announced that the pasta was done.

A moment later, he stood outside her door. He was uncertain how he should do this. He cleared his throat and rolled his shoulder and opened the door.

Inside, Raven was standing, looking out the window. It was a dull, cold day, with grey clouds and a slight fog.

A perfectly typical day in October.

He was surprised at how thin she looked. The clothes she was wearing hang loose on her frail frame and he could see how tired and weak she really was.

He cleared his throat again and put the plate down on the bedside table. Reluctantly, he walked up until he stood next to her, and regarded the view of New York.

"Ya know, this room used to be mine." He commented and Raven arched her eyebrows in response.

"Before Susan and Reed shared a bedroom, she had the biggest room in the apartment. So when that room was free, I moved in there. But when she had that room I had this one."

He was rambling and he knew it.

"I always did like the view from this window.." he muttered.

Raven nodded slightly and turned away from the window. She sat down on the bed and stared into space.

Johnny stood for a moment longer before turning his back to the window.

"Aren't you gonna eat that?" he gestured to the pasta and Raven looked blankly at it before looking at the wall again. "I made it special." He offered, "Well.. I found it in the refrigerator and heated it, but I _still_ made it!"

She made no attempt at eating anything at all, so Johnny decided on a different strategy.

"Look, I'm not leaving this room until you've eaten some of that stupid pasta."

A few seconds later, she reached out for the plate and started eating. Johnny wasn't sure if he should be relieved or insulted.

When half of the pasta was gone, she set the plate down again. Johnny nodded with satisfaction and took the plate back. He was almost out the door when,

"You know.. I don't like pasta."

He turned around with an amused look on his face.

"But you'd still eat it to get rid of me? I'm hurt."

She smiled slightly and looked at him for the first time since he entered the room. "I wanted to make you stop worrying." She admitted.

He couldn't stop the warm smile on his face.

"Are you still hungry?" he questioned. After a moment, she nodded.

"Well, if you don't like pasta, how 'bout you make something else? You could teach me." she contemplated this for a moment and then nodded again. "I'd like that." She smile slightly again.

Soon, they were in the kitchen and Raven was teaching Johnny a pancake recipe.

"Are you sure pancakes is the best thing to eat when you haven't been eating anything for a week?" he questioned and Raven shrugged, a small, yet content, smile on her face.

"Susan keeps telling me that I need some fat on my bones. I'm just following orders." She stirred the bowl, while Johnny, with limited success, cracked eggs into a glass. "Besides, I'm not going to eat all of them. Only a few. The rest is for you and Reed."

After fishing some eggshell out of the glass, Johnny poured the eggs into the bowl.

A moment later, Raven had the first pancake sizzling on one pan, while teaching Johnny how to do it on another pan.

After several burned, destroyed and run-away pancakes, she laughed and said, "Gosh, Johnny haven't you ever cooked before?"

"Nope."

"Wait, seriously?" she looked questioningly at him. "You _never_ cooked?"

"Well, I never exactly had a parent to teach me." She formed her mouth into a perfect 'O' and looked awkwardly back at the stove.

After a moment she asked: "So what happened?"

He heaved a sigh, preparing himself for the long story.

"My mom died before I was old enough for her to teach me. Afterwards it didn't really seem to matter." He shrugged casual as if it was no big deal and Raven took it as permission to question him. After all, Johnny Storms favorite topic was himself, no?

"How'd she die?" She asked softly and gauged his expression to make sure she wasn't making him uncomfortable.

"Car crash." He smiled slightly, "It's funny.. because she died in a car crash, I was very interested in cars and engines. I guess I wanted to know as much about cars as possible, so I could avoid dying because of one too."

"Ah, a 'know your enemy' situation.

"Exactly." They both stood and nodded to themselves, until the smell of burned pancake reached them.

"Oh, Jesus!" Raven quickly flipped over the pancake, but it was no use: it was black and smoking.

She threw it into the trashcan, just as Johnny started laughing. "Who's the bad cook now?"

She mock glared at him, before smirking and responding; "You. You're melting the pans handle."

"Ah, crap."

Now it was Raven's turn to laugh.

A few minutes passed and then Johnny asked, "So, what 'bout your parents?"

"I grew up with my dad." Johnny nodded.

"Your mom's dead too?"

"Not as far as I'm concerned. She didn't as much die as she just up and left me and my dad one day."

Johnny flipped over a pancake and Raven was surprised to see that it was perfectly cooked on both sides.

"Sorry to hear that."

"Don't be. I stopped being sorry a long time ago. Besides, your mum _died_. That's far worse."

"Losing a parent is always sad, no matter how." Raven scrutinized him for a moment.

"When did you get to be so philosophical?" Johnny turned to her, a smirk in place.

"I'm a man of many talents."

* * *

"D'you wanna get out of here?" Johnny suggested later that night.

Raven had stayed with Johnny and Reed – whenever Reed wasn't working in his laboratory – for the rest of the day. She had been happy and social and Johnny was quite satisfied with himself and his effort in helping her recover.

She looked up from the television show they'd been watching.

"Go where?"

"I don't know.. there are plenty of places to go."

"When you say 'places' do you mean nightclubs?" She grinned mischievously at him.

He scrunched up his nose and scoffed. "No, of course not!"

"Johnny."

"Okay, I might mean nightclubs, but so what! I_ like_ nightclubs."

He sat up, clearly on a roll, "They're loud and fun and there's lots of booze! The atmosphere is always great and most people are really friendly. Plus, anyone fits in. And there are lots of hot wom-"

"I'd love to go to a bar." She interrupted his rant, "It's been a while since I got any alcohol."

"Seriously?" she nodded, "Sweet!" He stood up and pulled her with him.

"Do you need some time to get ready?"

"Give me ten minutes." She said and went to her room. She turned around in the door and asked: "What do you wear at a nightclub? I haven't been in one for over five years."

Johnny just waved a hand at her, "Anything you'd like to wear, as longs as its fit for a party."

She raised an eyebrow and closed her door.

Ten minutes later, she came out again, wearing skinny jeans and a nice top. She had flats on her feet and her hair was loose. She picked at the split ends of her mistreated hair sadly and added, "I really need a haircut."

"Right now?" He looked slightly worried that she was actually going to go to a hairdresser at that moment.

"No!" She laughed slightly. "But soon."

"Okay. I can take you some time," he promised, "if we get out of here now." A cheeky grin adorned his face and soon, they were out the door.

"So, where are we going?" Raven questioned after ten minutes of what appeared to be mindless walking.

Johnny shrugged slightly. "Dunno. Usually I walk around until I find a club that sounds fun."

"_sounds?" _

"You can always determine how good a party is, based by the sound of it." He held his arm in front of her, stopping her from walking and pointed at a rather lively sounding building, with bright obnoxious neon-signs.

"That one sounds decent."

Raven laughed lightly in disbelief, but followed him across the street and into the bar.

Two hours and many shots later, Raven was having a great time. She was sitting at the bar, laughing heartily at Johnny, who was currently dancing scantily with what could easily have been a Victoria's Secret model.

Raven had to admit that she was _very _drunk. She hadn't had any alcohol in five years and the shots she had downed worked extremely fast. Her eyesight was slow and her brain fuzzy but it was all highly amusing to her. She knew that she was acting like she was sixteen again, but at that moment, it felt good and natural and fun. It felt like the right thing to do.

Ten minutes later, Johnny flopped down on the barstool that was next to the one she was in.

"I told ya this was a nice party." He boasted and down another shot. He whipped his mouth just as a loud, rowdy and very drunk man walked up to the bar.

He shouted over the music for the bartender to pour him another beer. He was unstable on his feet and accidentally bumped into Raven. He didn't apologize, but stared hard at her, before loudly asking, "Who invited the anorexic?" He eyed her thin arms and Raven's smile fell.

"Hey man, just leave her alone." Johnny jumped to her defense, but the drunk guy wasn't about to let this one go. He didn't really care about Raven's thin state, he just wanted a fight.

"This your girlfriend? You must be a desperate man." Johnny, who hadn't moved from his casual stance against the counter smiled slightly. He knew this type of guy. No matter what Johnny now said, it was going to start a fight.

"Nope," he rolled his head around and looked at the man. "Not my girlfriend."

"Well, then you won't mind if I explore the anorexic a bit further." He inched towards Raven, who looked torn between sad and scared. Johnny's face darkened. This guy was doing anything to provoke him. And it worked.

"As I said: Leave her alone."

"How are you gonna stop me?" he slurred and Johnny stepped in front of Raven before the guy could touch her.

The guy lunged for Johnny, but he was too fast. He ducked and when he resurfaced, his set his hands on fire.

The guy looked like he had been hit over the head with an anvil, when he realized who he had just tried to take a swing at.

"Now, do you really want to try this?" Johnny smirked with overconfidence and the guy backed away. "Thought so." He muttered and turned around, putting his hands out in the process.

As soon as his back was turned, the guy regained his former courage, or stupidity, and hit Johnny.

He froze for a second and then turned around, fist colliding with the guys face in a whirlwind of motion. Silence reigned throughout the bar. Johnny took Raven's hand and pulled her after him.

"Let's get outta here." He muttered. They did just that.

Johnny supported a highly drunk Raven and looked around. His own apartment was much closer than the Baxter Building and he didn't want to carry all the way there..

"Let's go to my place."

* * *

"Oh, fancy." Raven giggled when they entered his apartment. She was leaning against Johnny for support; she couldn't walk properly by herself. He chuckled quietly, whether by her comment of her drunken state he didn't know.

"It reminds me of the apartment me and Adrian shared.." She muttered and Johnny nodded solemnly. "Let's get you to bed," he said and dragged her to his room.

"I bet I'm the first woman you bring home without shagging." She giggled. She lay down and the bed and sighed contently, a small smile on her face.

"You know, Adrian's family never approved of me." She sat up on her elbows and looked at dreamily at the wall. "I always thought that's why he didn't want to marry me.." Johnny stood by the bed, and looked at her.

While she was very drunk, he wasn't. He was a lot more used to alcohol than her and needed more to get drunk.

"I really wanted to marry him, ya know? I really waited. Maybe that was why I said yes to go to space: he disapproved and I wanted to show him that I could do fine without him, so that he would _have_ to marry me if he wanted to be with me. To make him jealous. Of a spacetrip." She burst out laughing at the last part, but the smile fell.

She looked up at Johnny with an expression he couldn't quite read.

"You are really hot, you know that?" Johnny choked slightly on his own spit. "Like sex on two legs."

She sat up stared at him with a lost look. "I haven't had sex in five years." She slurred.

"Raven.."

"No, honestly! I haven't had sex in five years." She pouted and hit the bed childishly.

"You should really stop talking."

He eyed her warily. He vaguely hoped that she wouldn't remember anything in the morning, to save herself from the embarrassment. He'd met lots of people who lost all sense of propriety when they were drunk. And his looks were often a topic when he came across an irresponsibly drunk girl. He'd even come across a few guys who admired him in all the wrong ways, when they were drunk. He shuddered slightly at the thought.

"I'd really like to have sex. Right now."

Johnny coughed in shock. Raven advanced slightly on him, what was supposed to be a seductive smile in place.

And then, Johnny Storm did something he had never done before.

He turned down sex.

* * *

I hope nobody want's to kill me after that ending :D I couldn't resist. It's been an idea I've had for a long time.

I really love all the lovely reviews! Thank you so much. And I'm overwhelmed at all the alerts and favorites! It's really amazing!

Now, in order for the next chapter to come out sooner, REVIEW!


	12. The Hairdresser

I'm back from the dead!

You guys, I am so, so, so sorry for this disgustingly late chapter! Don't worry I wasn't having writers block or was too busy or quiting the story or anything alarming at all. My computer just broke.

Seriously, it broke and it took forever for the computer-tech-something-guys to fix it!

Anyway, as a means of amends, I plan on working extra hard on updating faster the next could of weeks. Enjoy this chapter!

* * *

It would be an understatement to say that Raven's head hurt, when she woke up the following morning. She lay for a long time, refusing to open her eyes and thinking, with a hidden sort of amusement, that this was her first hangover in at least six years.

She removed her arm from over her eyes and sighed loudly, settling deeper into the comforting warmth of her bed. She tried to recall what'd happened the night before, but she wouldn't remember anything from after her fifth shot. She remembered some guy bumping into her, but the memory was hazy and her mind must've been playing tricks on her because she could remember Johnny punching the guy. Surely, he hadn't done that. Johnny was a hothead, but he didn't walk around beating people up.

Well, except for Dr. Doom. He sure had beaten him up. She felt a shudder run down her spine, when she realized that Johnny practically had Dr Dooms blood on his hands.

Suddenly realizing that the sunlight came from the wrong side of the room, she frowned and decided it was time to open her eyes. Now that she thought of it, she wasn't even sure where she was. She couldn't remember going home at all, so for all she knew, she could currently be in jail or maybe even Africa.

She pried one eye open slowly and hissed slightly at the lights onslaught on her eye. Sighing with annoyance she opened the other eye, which wasn't in direct sunlight, with better results.

She definitely wasn't in her room. In fact, she had no idea where she was.

Opening the other eye now, Raven got a better look. Unlike the grey walls of her own room, these were white and the window was on the wrong side of the room, explaining the misplaced sunlight. Slowly, with much protest from her throbbing head, she sat up and looked around. She spotted a nightstand next to her, upon which a glass and some painkillers rested.

Sighing with relief, she gulped down the water and swallowed the painkillers.

Knowing that it would be a while before the pain stopped, she decided to simply get up. She didn't want to sit around and wait for the painkillers to work. Besides, she wanted to know where she was.

Upon leaving the room, she stepped into a large living room. Surveying the room quickly, she spotted a sofa, where someone had been sleeping, judging by the rumpled blanket and pillow laying on it.

From the kitchen, she could hear some shuffling about and hoped dearly that it would be Johnny.

She wish was granted, when his face poked out the door and smiled brightly at her.

"Mornin' sleepy head!" He said loudly and cheerfully. She allowed a small smile in return and went for the kitchen.

Once there, she got another look around.

It was a nice, spacious room, which looked like it'd practically never been used before.

"What'd ya want for breakfast?" he, once again cheerfully, asked. He turned away from his coffee making and looked expectantly at her. She scrunched up her nose slightly and declared that she wasn't really hungry.

Johnny frowned at her and set down his mug. He looked at her seriously and crossed his arms. At length, he said, "You can't starve yourself Raven, it's not healthy." She was about to protest, but he cut her off, "Look, I know you're grieving over your loss, and I can understand that! But harming yourself won't make anything better and it certainly can't be what Adrian would've wanted."

Ravens face has torn between anger and sorrow. In the end, sorrow won out.

"You're right." Her voice cracked on the two words and her eyes became watery. Johnny let out a noise of sympathy and embraced her.

Minutes later, she shrugged out of his hug and smiled weakly at him.

He looked sternly at her and pointed a finger in her face. "Do you promise to start eating?"

She could help but let out a choked laughed at the serious and stern look on the carefree and non-serious man's face.

"I promise."

"Good," He stepped back to his former place against the counter and pointed at one of the cupboards, "so eat."

Raven opened the cupboard and found a bunch of different cereal boxes. Pulling out some Corn Flakes, she asked Johnny if he had any milk.

"Nope," he admitted, after checking his fridge. "Why don't you go freshen up and I'll dash down to the store and buy some."

Raven looked down at herself and realized, for the first time, that she was still in the clothes she'd worn yesterday.

"Do you perhaps have any clothes I could borrow?"

"I think mine would be too big, but.." He stepped out of the kitchen and entered the room Raven had been sleeping in.

Pulling open his closet, his leaned down to the bottom shelf and started pulling out one scandalizing female clothing after the other. Soon, his floor was littered with lingerie, underwear, short skirts, all sorts of leather clothing and several very, very revealing dresses.

"It's all the clothes my former – ah – 'dates' have left behind." He enlightened her, as if sensing the questioning glance she threw at his back. "It's unbelievable how often women forget their clothes.." he mused.

"Perhaps they were hoping that you'd contact them again, to give them back their forgotten items?" Raven suggested, obviously understanding the mind of women a lot better than Johnny.

Johnny snorted at such a ridiculous idea and continued digging out more clothes.

Raven tilted her head to the side in amazement. "How much clothes can such a small shelf contain?"

"That depends on how much you force- Aha!" Johnny cried out triumphantly and pulled out a pair of jeans.

"I knew these were in there somewhere!" He threw them at Raven, who quickly catched them, and continued his search in the closet.

Five seconds later, he pulled out what appeared to be a rumpled, but perfectly normal t-shirt.

He stood up and handed her the t-shirt too, before heading for the door.

"If you need fresh underwear.." he motioned at the floor, "you know where to find it." He smiled cheekily at her and ducked to avoid the bra Raven threw at him.

He ran out the apartment, laughing loudly and Raven couldn't help but let out an exasperated sigh and a chuckle.

Half an hour later Raven left the bathroom, slipping the t-shirt over her head, feeling much better than when she woke up.

She heard the unmistakable sound of a door opening and soon Johnny came into view.

"I've got milk." He announced proudly, holding up the bag in the air. He then got a thoughtful look on his face and grimaced slightly, lowering the bag. "I've never bought groceries before.. I feel like a old, responsible man." He shuddered and set the bag on the table, throwing Raven a glare as she laughed at him.

"Only you would use the word 'responsible' in a negative way." Johnny couldn't help but grin at this truth.

"Yes, I'm a very special person." He puffed out his, undeniably, well-built chest proudly.

She shook her head and they both entered the kitchen to eat.

Pouring cereal in two bowls, Raven jumped up on the counter and made herself comfortable. Johnny leaned against the counter on the opposite site and took the bowl Raven handled him. He tossed a container of milk at her, which she quickly catched and opened. They did this in a comfortable silence and kept the silence while they ate.

Raven finished much sooner than Johnny, who was providing himself with a second helping of the cereal, and started pulling sadly at her hair. It really was in a terrible condition.

Johnny noticed and froze with the spoon halfway up to his mouth. He looked at her in a thoughtful way and suddenly asked, "how about we visit the hairdresser today?"

He was surprised to see a nearly panicked cross Ravens features.

"No! That's not necessary; I can just cut it myself!" Johnny raised a skeptical eyebrow, but played along anyway.

"Have you ever cut it before by yourself?"

"Well, no, but how hard can it be? Just hand me a pair of scissors, I'll-"

"Raven, what do you have against hairdressers?" Johnny cut her off. She froze for a moment, before slumping and sighing, looking at her hands.

"I don't have any money to pay them with." She looked cautiously at Johnny, who, tactlessly, started laughing. This earned him a scowl.

"Raven, Sweetheart, of course I am paying!"

At this, Raven looked positively alarmed. "No! Johnny, I already owe you so much! I don't want to indebt myself even more!"

Johnny frowned. "Who said anything about owing me anything?" He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned forward, "Raven, I have more than I'll ever need! I'm a superhero and companies are practically standing in line to 'sponsor' everything I do! It's great advertisement for them! I'll just have to snap my fingers and I'm the proud owner of a new sports car!"

Raven's mouth formed a perfect 'o' and Johnny beamed at her.

"Besides, if I wanted to, I could get you that haircut for free." He smirked, looking a little too confident in Raven's opinion.

Finally, she grumbled slightly and then gave in, "Fine!" She threw up her arms in exasperation, "You may take me to that stupid hairdresser!"

When they arrived, the girl behind the counter only had to look once at Raven's tortured tresses to state that this clearly was an emergency, and that she'd call for the owner of the place immediately.

The owner in question was a middle aged, slightly overweight woman. She also shot one look at Raven's hair before nodding resolutely and asking Raven, not without a clear sense of authority, to take a seat, so she could look at the damage.

While Raven and the woman discussed her hair, the girl who'd called for the owner noticed Johnny, who was standing with a look somewhere between amusement and confusion.

"Are you the actual Human Torch?" She inquired, sounding slightly awed.

"Why, yes I am," he smirked, "But the ladies call me Torch." She smiled brightly at him and flicked her long blonde-dyed hair over her shoulders.

Thus, the afternoon wasn't a complete waste: Raven had great fun, getting her hair cut and discussing different hair-do's that would work with her head-shape and face, and Johnny had even greater fun, flirting with the young hair dresser, telling her all about how he single handedly took down Dr Doom two times.

When Raven was done, he couldn't help a soft smile. "You look great."

She did indeed. It hadn't been cut that much shorter, but she'd gotten bangs and it'd been cut in layers so it wasn't completely straight, but allowed a touch of curl here and there.

She flushed and accepted the compliment, without much fuss.

At that moment, Johnny chose to look at his phone.

"Shit."

"What's wrong now?" Raven stepped closer and sported a look of concern.

"Well, Susan has called me five times, left two voicemails and three messages." He sighed and looked into the air, rubbing the back of his neck."I'm totally screwed." He turned to look at her, "You too, for that matter."

Raven furrowed her brows, which the hairdresser had also tended to, "Me? What'd I do?"

He stopped rubbing his neck and ran it through his hair instead, "We totally forgot to say we were going out. They have no idea where we are."

"Oh.." Raven looked regretful, "Well, shit."

"Shit indeed."

"We should probably hurry back." She reasoned, "Susan must be worried sick."

Johnny sighed loudly and dropped his shoulder visibly. They quickly left the hairdresser, Johnny paying more than necessary, and hurried down the street, towards Reed and Susan's apartment: They hadn't used Johnny's car, since it was still parked at the Baxter Building.

"Here we go." Johnny announced when the elevator 'ding'ed open, mentally preparing himself for the tantrum he would have to endure.

* * *

I'm actually happy with the way this turned out. I had it written before my computer crashed, but I lost the document, so I had to start form scratch and I like this version much better.

Hope you enojyed this chapter and have a lovely day everyone!

Don't forget to review, I promise, it'll make me update faster :D


	13. The Maturing

Told ya'll I'd update faster!

The first half of this chapter wasn't really planned but I like it. Makes you see Johnny kinda differently, in my opinion. :)

Enjoy!

* * *

When Johnny was six and his mother still was alive, and they all lived in a nice house in the outskirts of New York, he and Susan always got their own share of candy on Saturdays. Johnny, being who he was, gobbled down the sweets in the blink of an eye, while Susan cleverly saved some of hers, so it would last the whole day, and the day after that.

One Saturday, Johnny'd been convinced that Susan had gotten more candy than him and that was why she always took longer to eat it.

So he rationalized that it would only be fair, if he got some of her candy. He was a young boy, not realizing that what he was doing was stealing and that he'd had no right to do it.

He found Susan's stash and had eaten half of if, when Susan found him.

She started crying and furiously told their mother what he'd done.

Fortunately, for Johnny, their mother were a kind soul and his punishment hadn't been too harsh.

But Susan..

Susan had been furious, crying and screaming at him for at least ten minutes, until Johnny himself had been reduced to tears.

He couldn't remember Susan ever shouting at him like that since that incident.

It was, however, _nothing_ compared to the fit she was in now.

"-Not leaving a single message!"

He and Raven was sitting at the table, watching the pacing woman in front of them.

"- honestly, of all the idiotic-"

Johnny knew that Susan wasn't really angry, well maybe not really at Raven, she was probably plenty mad at him, but she was mostly worried.

And she was angry with him, and not only for disappearing suddenly, but even more importantly, it was because he'd brought Raven with him.

She probably thought he'd dragged her with him because he didn't want to stay in the apartment to babysit.

"Johnny, I can't believe you would do something so-"

It wasn't true, though he had to admit that, only a year ago, he'd have done something like that. But he was much more mature now. Since the whole ordeal with Dr Doom and the Silver Surfer, Johnny had been maturing gradually.

Knowing that the whole planet might get eaten had started an avalanche of pondering in his head. And what Ben had said about part of him wanting to fight, but mostly he wanted to be with his loved one.

At the time, Johnny hadn't wanted to admit it, but he had never felt more alone than at that moment.

Ben had said that he wanted to spend his last minutes with the woman he loved and it made Johnny realize that he didn't have anyone he'd want to spend the last minutes of his life with. The thought had wormed its way deep into his mind and had never quite left him afterwards, even after they had saved earth.

He really only had Ben, Reed and Susan.

And they were all paired up, leaving Johnny with no one. He would never admit it, but he often felt very lonely, especially when Reed and Susan got all lovey-dovey and Ben was away with Alicia. He felt lonely when he had to look at the happy couples, but he felt even lonelier, when he wasn't with them, because then he was reminded of them being his only friends.

"-Next time you decide to do anything so stupid, at least-"

Johnny looked at Raven and felt a sort of understanding and alliance between them. She didn't have anyone either.

Perhaps that was why he'd made so easy friends with her. Because neither really had a choice in the matter. They had to become friends, because they'd have no one otherwise.

"-Know what went through your head, when you just-"

It scared him to no end, but Johnny knew what was wrong with him. He wasn't a stupid man. He liked living in ignorance, but he wasn't blind.

He was growing older and more mature. He was twenty-six now and slowly growing out of his carefree attitude and playboy life.

For half a year now, he'd been holding onto his old life, not without a big amount of desperation, refusing to believe that it was over.

But it was. Partying all night and hooking up with a girl, whose name he'd have forgotten in the morning just didn't appeal to him as much as it had only three months ago.

He realized, with a shock, that he hadn't had sex in three weeks. That had to be some sort of record.

Everything in him, every reflex, every instinct, every cell in his body, screamed at him to find the right girl, stay true to her and raise a family.

He shuddered at the thought. Kids were.. not his thing. The worst part was that the idea didn't seem as crazy as it should have. He was supposed to be disgusted at the mere thought, but he wasn't truly. His opinion of family, marriage and love was slowly changing, without his permission. He was becoming an adult. A boring, responsible, predictable adult.

Looking up at Susan, he saw that she was still rambling on.

"You didn't even tell Reed, Johnny! He was worried sick and-"

Johnny grew more and more tired of this. He hadn't meant to forget and all these gloomy thoughts of his were putting him in a bad mood.

"Susan, just drop it. Nothing happened." Susan looked at him, shocked that he'd interrupted her, "We are both adults and perfectly able to take care of ourselves."

She seemed indignant at the thought. "But anything could've happened!"

"Sue, I can shoot fire out of my freaking hands!" Johnny stood up suddenly, knocking his chair over, which made Raven jump in hers."I'm pretty sure I can take care of myself _and _Raven!"

"I'm not talking about other people attacking you!" Susan and Johnny were now up in each other's faces, glaring the other down, "Johnny, Raven hasn't eaten for weeks! To take a person so weak and unstable to a nightclub is insane! If her foolishness ended up harming her, you wouldn't be able to do anything with your little fireballs!"

Susan froze, just now remembering that Raven was sitting right there, listening to every word.

She turned to Raven, eyes wide and mouth open, ready to let out her apology, "Raven I am so sorry, I-"

"No, it's fine." Raven spoke up for the first time since arriving home. She stood up, not meeting Susan's gaze. "I'll just.. go.." She fumbled around with her hands nervously. She looked up once, meeting Johnny's eyes instantly and shuffled out of the room, closing the door to her room.

Johnny had seen the tears in her eyes.

"Well, _fucking_ done, Susan."He glared daggers at her and stormed out, heading for the bathroom.

He needed a shower to clear his mind.

Twenty minutes later, he came out, even more frustrated, but not as angry. The shower hadn't done much good. He'd been so angry that the water turned to steam as soon as it touched him, leaving little to no effect on his body or mood.

He stalked to his room, slamming the door shut in the process.

In there, he took of his towel, looking for clothes to wear. He was halfway dressed, when he thought better of it and decided to put his suit on underneath, in case he accidentally lit on fire in his anger.

He walked to her door, but hesitated before knocking. What did he hope to achieve by seeking her out? What Susan had said, hadn't been a lie, technically. So how was he supposed to comfort her? What ever comfort he might have to offer could easily be turned into scolding and reprimanding. He didn't want to go tell what she already knew. Besides, why did _he_ feel the need to apologize for Susan? He hadn't done anything! Why did he even want to talk to her to make her feel better? He didn't _have_ to. ..But he wanted to. He wanted to make her feel better because he loathed seeing Raven unhappy.

Before he could change his mind, he knocked, twice, on the door. He didn't receive any answer, so after a moment, he walked in anyway.

Just like yesterday, Raven was starring out her window, not giving any indication of having heard him.

He stepped up next to her and repeated what he'd told her yesterday.

"I always liked the view from this room.."

She smiled with one corner of her mouth, "You said that already."

"I know."

She let out a single chuckle, but didn't say anything else.

Johnny raised his eyebrow, smirking slightly and looked at her, first from the corner of his eye, and then he turned his head so he was facing her fully. "I'm going to assume that you do too."

"Assume all you want." She dropped her gaze from the view, before meeting his eye.

He drew in a breath, dreading what was to come. All the same, he turned, so he was facing her head on, and cleared his throat formally.

"Look, about what Susan said.."

"It's fine Johnny." She dismissed him immediately. "It was true anyway. I-" She scratched her head and grimaced slightly, "I think I needed to hear it."

"Good." He pulled his hands out of his pockets and placed them on her shoulders, regarding her at arm's length. "Just as long as you're okay.." He frowned, "Sue'll probably want to apologize though. "

"If it'll make her feel better, I can endure an apology." She decided.

"What do you have against apologies anyway?" Johnny dropped his arms and replaced them in his pockets.

"I don't have anything against apologies, per say.. I just think that you guys already did so much for me and it feels wrong when you apologize."

Johnny pinched his nose, "Raven, you really don't owe us anything: we want to help. It's actually our job and duty."

She raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Not that I think of you as some job or duty! I genuinely want to help you." He scratched the back of his neck, feeling awkward all of a sudden, the words sounding rushed and loud. "You've become a good friend to me." He concluded in a softer tone, smiling softly at her. She grinned in response.

"And you me, Johnny" She smirked, "It's nice to hang with someone whom I don't need to be intelligent around."

"Ohh, that hurt," Johnny slapped a hand over his heart and Raven laughed. "I can actually be a very smart guy!"

"I will believe it, when you give me reason to!" Johnny was already advancing on her and she was backing away slowly, heading for the door.

"Hey, you don't get to be a space-shuttle pilot without a few smarts!"

"Ben seems to think otherwise." She looked between her and the door, "He told me you crashed a flight-simulator into a wall once. Proves how many 'smarts' you really have." That was the last straw for Johnny and he chased after Raven, who'd dashed out the door as soon as she finished the sentence.

The others were surprised to hear laughter, with the occasional shrieking and roaring, ring loudly throughout the apartment.

Johnny and Raven chased around everywhere, Raven squirting water at Johnny and Johnny shooting fireballs at Raven, both knowing that their power had no effect on the other person.

Susan practically ran from her room and stood, baffled, in her door opening at what she saw.

"I'll get you for that!" Johnny shouted after a particularly big gush of water, which had soaked his shirt. She smiled slightly at their antics – both glad that Johnny had made such a good friend, but also relieved that Raven wasn't sad anymore.

Susan jumped in fright when she saw Johnny throw a decent sized ball of fire after Raven. She was about to shout at him to stop, when she, to her amazement, saw the fire burn up into a puff of smoke as soon as it made contact with Raven's skin.

Her clothes, however, were in much worse shape. They were drenched and some places were blackened and filled with holes, from the fire.

"If you guys plan to keep up you game, if think I have something for Raven that she's going to need." Susan interrupted their fooling around, smiling mischievously.

* * *

What does Susan have? If anyone can guess, I promise to upload the next chapter before this week is over!

Hope you enjoyed, and as always, REVIEW! :D


	14. The Suit

Ta-daa! I am an awesome writer, I know.

* * *

"Are you sure?" Raven looked doubtfully at the fabric Susan was holding up.

"This was yours, Raven." Susan looked from the fabric, to Raven. "I found it in the underground labs the day.." Susan trailed off, but Raven raised an eyebrow, prompting her to finish, "..the day I went looking for Adrian."

Susan sighed and put the suit on the table. Apart from the missing '4' sign, the suit was the exact same as the others, only much worse for wear. Raven remembered wearing it, memories filled with mixed feelings. She recalled the excitement from going to space, the confusing of being ordered to hide from the others, the heart-shattering fear when the cloud hit. She remembered the strange feeling of being completely in gulfed in icy-cold water, and still finding it incredibly comfortable, feeling like it wasn't just around her, but _in _her, a part of her, like something was tying her and the water together, like she _was_ water. And, even worse, she remembered the fear of waking up in complete darkness, still in the suit, the first thing she heard being Dr Doom's cold voice.

All of these feelings came from faint memories, memories she could barely remember, though the feelings and emotions she'd had during those episodes were as clear as crystal.

And they had all been brought on by the suit. She shuddered slightly and redirected her eyes. It was a strange feeling, being able to feel what she'd felt back then, but not able to remember how and why. It was like reliving someone else's past.

"I've been working on it since I found it." Susan explained, "I didn't want to tell you back then, due to.. certain events."

_Meaning Adrian's death, _Raven thought, though she didn't say it aloud.

"It's almost done." She picked it up and handed it to Raven. "I'd like you to try it on." Raven looked something between scared and in refusal. Susan rolled her eyes, "Just so I can see what needs to be done, before I finish it."

Reluctantly, Raven took the suit and headed for the bathroom, without saying a word. Johnny hadn't said anything either during the whole conversation, opting to stand silently in the back. He shot Susan a certain look Raven noticed, before she closed the door. It looked like the siblings were having a conversation with their eyes.

She slipped the suit on, loathing the feel of it against her skin. It was annoyingly comfortable. She kept all the scary feelings and emotions at bay, willing herself to get over it. Still, she couldn't stop herself from shaking like a leaf, when she looked at herself in the bathroom mirror.

She didn't look anything like the woman who had worn the suit last.

She had been a carefree, wild, healthy, young woman, barely out of her teenage years, filled with hope for the future. Looking back at her reflection now, she saw an older, more worn, tired and guarded woman, who had lost all hope for the future.

"It fits like a glove!" Susan exclaimed happily when Raven stepped out of the bathroom. Johnny couldn't help but frown at his sister's obliviousness.

Raven could see on his face that he knew exactly how she felt. She could see the disapproval of what Susan was doing in his eyes and when his blue orbs locked on hers, she got shivers down her back from the level of understanding in them. It was scary how easily they communicated and understood each other. In that single look, she saw the pity, the apology on behalf of his sister and the promise to talk about this later. He willed her to stay strong for a little while longer, for his sake. He would listen to her, help her, if only she could endure this for a while longer.

_Hold on for a little while longer, it'll pay off. I promise. _

Raven looked at Susan, who was examining the suit's condition even further. She looked back to Johnny and nodded slightly at him, signaling that they had a deal. He returned the nod and then left. He burst into flame and soared into the air and out the open balcony door. Susan jumped in fright, having stood with her back to him.

"That boy.." she huffed, "So inconsiderate."

Raven shook her head, "Not a boy. A man."

_And he's not inconsiderate._

She didn't add the last part.

"Okay, you can take it off now. I'm done." Susan prodded her towards the bathroom. "It doesn't even need any adjustments. You can have it now." She smiled brightly and Raven forced herself to return it. She had promised Johnny she would.

Raven walked hurriedly to the bathroom, wanting to get out of the suit as soon as possible.

Once she had gotten it off, she didn't know what to do. Susan had work, Reed was not at home, neither was Ben and she had no idea when Johnny would come back. She knew that they'd had a deal and that he was waiting for her. But where?

"He left through the balcony door.." she mumbled to herself. Was that supposed to have been a clue? Raven walked onto the balcony, instantly feeling the slight drizzle that covered New York.

She sat down on a chair, which Johnny told her had been there since before Reed moved in, and waited for the human torch to come back.

She could see him flying around town minutes before he came back. His power wasn't exactly subtle, much like the man himself. She couldn't help but marvel at the awe-inspiring flame that followed him around, when he flew. It was a display of true, raw power, really making him look like a live meteor.

To Raven, it was incredibly attractive.

A few minutes later, the meteor steered towards the Baxter building and landed, turning into Johnny smoothly.

He sat down with his back against the armrest of the chair she was in, sharing the comfortable silence with her.

"Where'd you go?" Raven questioned. He closed his eyes and leaned his head on the armrest, "just out for a quick flight, to clear my head."

"Are you mad at Susan?" Johnny was annoyed at how composed Raven sounded. He sat straight and moved his head up, turning so he could see her properly. "Aren't you?"

She shook her head, looking into the grey sky. "No-I.. She couldn't possibly know that.. that it'd affect me." Johnny observed her intently and she didn't have a choice but to look back at him. "She doesn't know me as well as you." She admitted.

Johnny frowned, "But it was so obvious!" He stood up and paced around on the small space. "I could see it all over your face!"

"As I said, you know me better. Besides, she was too busy admiring the suit."

Her words didn't really help to calm him down much. They only made him more annoyed. Not with Susan, but with Raven herself. It grated on his nerves that she seemed so calm, when he himself would've handled the same situation much worse than she had. He couldn't understand why she'd react like she did.

Shaking his head in frustration, he sighed and decided to let it go.

"Fine," he waved a hand in the air and turned towards the railing of the balcony, "I won't question your logic." He leaned his elbows on the railing and mumbled in frustration, "Women are so confusing.."

"Well, so are men!" Raven teased and stood next to him. Johnny caught onto the light tone and smirked gently.

"No, actually men are very easy to understand. We are uncomplicated."

"Some would just prefer to call you simple-minded."

Johnny pushed her should slightly, in jest.

"Hey, I want check something!" He suddenly remembered. Raven looked strangely at him because of his sudden change of topic, but went along with it.

"Oh? And what would you like to check?"

Without a forewarning, Johnny lit on fire, surprising Raven out of her own skin.

"Johnny, don't do stuff like that!" Without thinking, she smacked him over the arm, completely forgetting that said arm was, in fact, on fire.

She looked surprised at her own hand, which hadn't suffered any damage. Johnny smirked and this time, he grabbed hold of her hand, with his own flaming one.

She gasped. It didn't hurt at all! She could feel the warmth, but it just felt like touching warm water. The connected skin did sizzle and steam slightly, but even that stopped after a moment.

"That's amazing!" she breathed.

He grabbed hold of her other hand. The same thing happened: For a moment their hands steamed and hissed and then she felt like hers was in a bowl of hot water.

Her clothes blackened and burned away at the seams, but it didn't hurt her in the slightest.

Johnny looked from their joined hands to her, smirk still firmly in place. "How 'bout you make use of that fire-proof suit of yours?"

Raven smiled, but it turned sad quickly. "I-I don't know.. It's-"

"I promise you won't regret it." He persuaded. He let a sly smile cross his lips. "I always give the girls a good time." He whispered darkly.

His tone made her weak in the knees for some stupid reason and she huffed at him to distract herself.

"Fine!" She chuckled, "I'll go put it on."

A moment later, Raven was back on the balcony where a no-longer on fire Johnny stood.

"Ready?" he questioned. When she nodded, he exploded in flames again and this time, he didn't settle for holding her hand.

Raven shrieked in surprise when Johnny suddenly wrapped his arms around her and picked her up. No damage was done to either the girl or her suit. He shot her a look and she nodded in confirmation. With her permission, he shot into the air like a rocket.

Johnny quickly repositioned her, so he was holding her around the waist, their bodies in perfect alignment. Raven was glad he couldn't see the blush that covered her cheeks at the closeness of their bodies.

She liked his hands around her waist a little too much for her own liking.

All such worries flew from her mind when Johnny continued to soar over New York. The feeling was thrilling and liberating unlike anything she had ever experienced before.

"Can we go lower?" She asked in excitement.

Johnny laughed and flew down, slaloming between the tall buildings. Raven cheered heartily, her long hair whipping around her head wildly.

Johnny flew over the water, circling around a bit, before turning back and heading for a street corner, where he put her down and de-flamed himself. People stopped and looked at them, all wondering who the girl in the 'Fantastic Four' suit, who didn't need protection from Johnny's heat, was. Neither Johnny nor Raven took any heed of them.

"That was great!" She smiled grandly and looked completely unguarded and relaxed for the first time in a long time, Johnny noted.

"I need to do a quick round of the city, to see if anyone needs my help." Johnny said, "D'you want me to take you home first?"

Raven shook her head vigorously, "No!" she said, eyes wide, "I wanna come with! I bet I could help."

Johnny seriously doubted that she could, but didn't say so, simply opting to smile sweetly at her and return to the sky with her in his arms.

Half an hour, and a quick round in the city, later, Johnny and Raven found nothing out of the ordinary and returned to the Baxter Building.

Raven was red faced and her hair was a bird's nest, but there was a light in her eyes, which Johnny had never seen before.

"Well, I hope you enjoyed it!" Johnny bowed mockingly.

"Yes, I rather like you as my personal means of transport."

Johnny snorted, "Don't get used to it, sweet cheeks."

Raven laughed, "Oh, but it's so- what's that?" She suddenly frowned and pointed out in the city.

Johnny turned and squinted slightly in the general direction she had pointed.

An old red brick building was emitting a red glow and smoke rose from it. He could hear the sirens of both the police and the firemen.

"Fire." He breathed.

* * *

I feel like I'm gambling, somewhat, with this chapter. I don't know why, so please let me know if you find anything dis-pleasing.

Anyway, there's gonna be lot's of action (shit's gonna go doown) in the next chapter, so REVIEW and get it faster! :)


	15. The Fire

Sorry if this took long, homework's been a bitch to me.

* * *

Thick, black smoke tainted the red background of the sunset, its stench reaching their noses.

Johnny stared intensely at the building for a moment, before springing into action. In two seconds flat, he was in the living room, yelling frantically to get Susan's attention.

"Susan!" He turned a full circle, looking for his sister and then spotting her through the open door to the lab. "Susan! There's fire!"

She looked up at him, but didn't look at urgent as he'd wanted her to.

"There's a house on fire two streets down!" He elaborated and Susan finally understood.

"Go down and help all you can, Johnny." She ordered, briskly walking out the lab, throwing off her white lab-coat in the process. "I'll be there as soon as I can."

They almost collided with Raven, whom both had forgotten in their urgency.

"Raven, I don't know when we'll be back, so you'll probably have to prepare your dinner yourself." Susan looked expectantly at her, waiting for a nod of agreement. She didn't get one.

"What? I'm coming with!" Raven objected, frowning. Susan got a hard look on her face, but Raven cut her off before she could say anything.

"I'm the one who can shoot water out of my hands!" Raven sounded urgent, on the verge of panicky, "If anyone is fit for this job, it's me!"

Both women set their jaws stubbornly, until Johnny cut in.

"Look, Susan, I really think it's her own decision.." He stopped at the look Susan was giving him.

"Fine!" Susan rounded on both of them and pointed a finger sternly in Raven's face. "I'm only agreeing because we haven't got time to argue right now."

Raven nodded seriously, knowing that this argument wasn't over.

However, before Susan could say anything else, Johnny grabbed Raven around the waist and boomed out through the balcony door.

It took Johnny under a minute to reach the burning building, where he quickly dropped Raven, who stumbled onto the pavement, and flew towards a couple of firemen who tried to keep the onlookers away.

"What's our situation?"

"The two top floors are completely destroyed, the third just catching fire. The two bottom floors aren't on fire yet though." One of them pointed towards the third floor, "But we suspect that at least two people are stuck in there."

Johnny didn't even wait for him to finish before he flew towards the building and in through a broken window.

* * *

The heat was unbearable. Raven had been pouring water at the house for minutes now and had succeeded in constricting the fire, but she was growing worried. In the beginning, she hadn't been bothered at all, but the more water she used, the worse the heat got. She felt sweat trickle down her brow and the suit clinging uncomfortably to her body, due to the layer of sweat quickly forming on her.

Raven now knew what Reed had meant by 'storing' the water in her. And her storage was almost empty. She felt her mouth go dry and she blinked rapidly to keep her eyes moisturized.

She should've considered this before. She had already used up a lot of water by flying around with Johnny. If she didn't find a source of water soon, she wouldn't be able to be of any help to the firemen at all.

She took several steps away from the hot building, trying to create distance between herself and the scorching heat.

Dropping her arms to her side, she stopped the water-flow. Her hair was wet with sweat and her breathing came out in dry rasps.

She looked up to the building, just in time to see a purple, see-through cocoon surround the building. Looking to her left, she saw Susan, the creator of the force-field. Relief washed over her as Raven felt the heat lessen slightly. Surprising herself, she fell to her knees, exhaustion catching up to her. Nausea overcame her and she went down on all fours, trying to steady herself. She retched and gagged, coughing on air, her mouth feeling drier than ever before.

She needed water. Desperately.

Her arms gave out and her vision swam. For a brief moment she wondered why nobody was helping her. Was she really going to die right in front of all those people, just because everybody was too busy to notice her?

Her unfocused eyes scanned the place, looking for reachable water. Any liquid would do.

It was too late. She felt her eyes darken and her body grow weak and everything hurt. The only proof she had of still being alive, was her frantically beating heart and the painful pounding in her head. She'd almost lost consciousness, when her body cramped in on itself and she started coughing and gagging again.

The action woke her up and allowed her a brief moment of focus.

She looked around again, knowing that her only hope was to find water.

Suddenly, a jet of water splashed her way, leaving a little puddle of the heavenly liquid only three feet from her! If she'd had the energy to do it, she would've smiled at that moment. She didn't even consider finding out where the water came from; she was too absorbed by the sight of water in itself.

Instead, she focused all of her remaining energy on crawling towards the water.

She was only two feet away.. She could to it. She had to! She wasn't done with life yet! She'd only just regained a life and she sure wasn't planning on loosing it already. She still had so many things to do, people to meet.

She wanted to get married and settle down, not die on the street in front of a burning building!

Her arm trembled and gave out under her, but she wormed her way towards the water.

After what felt like hours, her gloved her came into contact with the water, her dry body soaking it up immediately.

She hadn't even needed to focus on absorbing it: her body had done it by itself, like a reflex.

An immense feeling of relief washed over her. The pain didn't stop, nor did the pounding in her head and her heart rate didn't slow down, but she wasn't dying anymore.

Satisfied with knowing that she'd be fine or alive at least, Raven dropped her head onto the pavement and allowed the darkness to fill her entire being.

* * *

The fireman had been right. Two people had been trapped in the building, a middle aged woman and her teenage son. Being who his was, Johnny could walk around the building unhindered, as long as the house didn't crash down on itself. So he had easily reached the people who needed his help.

Getting them out however had proved to be more difficult.

He couldn't just waltz out again with them in tow; they couldn't walk through the fire like he could.

And they were running out of time too. These two wouldn't be alive much longer if he didn't think of something fast.

He'd moved all three of them to the middle of the floor, as far away from the burning walls as possible, hoping to gain a bit more time.

Looking around, he'd noticed a window which looked decidedly breakable. He'd left the two and dashed for the window, kicking it broken.

He hollered at the firemen to prepare catching the two victims. "I'm gonna throw them out!" the firemen looked alarmed, but didn't protest as he shouted, "They won't survive much longer if I don't get them out now!"

He'd dragged the now unconscious woman to the window, followed by the boy, who'd barely been awake either.

Outside the window, he could see the firemen preparing the catch the two in one of those huge pieces of cloth Johnny had seen many times before.

Johnny mentally counted to three before gently letting go of the knocked out lady. The firemen caught her with no trouble and handed her off to the paramedics.

He turned to the boy afterwards.

"You gotta jump."

The boy looked beyond scared, but he knew he'd have to. Johnny briefly scanned the boys face: he made it a habit to try and remember the people he saved. It was a way of reminding himself that his life hadn't been a total waste.

The boy was young, probably about fifteen or sixteen years old and Johnny briefly remembered when he'd been that young.

He snapped out of it and urged the boy to jump down.

Behind them, a wall roared and fell down, half of the floor coming with it.

"Dude, Jump!" Johnny shouted and put a hand on the boys back, pushing them both out just as the floor they'd been standing on collapsed.

Johnny fell down thirty feet, before he ignited and hovered in the air. Looking down, he was relieved to see the boy land safely.

The mother had already been situated in an ambulance, the boy following her before they were driven to the hospital.

Before the stretcher he was in was placed inside the ambulance, the boy sat up and looked directly at Johnny.

"Thank you!" He shouted.

It made Johnny feel a certain warmth in his very core, a warmth not even his own fire could bring. He had mattered. He'd have some sort of importance. Maybe not to the whole world, but to these two people and their family, he had mattered very much.

Looking back at the building, he saw that half of the wall has collapsed too, leaving a gaping hole. Johnny took a moment to study the structure of the building and the damage the fire was doing.

His eyes widened, and he looked down at the street.

That building was going to crash.

And the people on the streets were in danger.

He shot through the air, swiftly landing next to the newly arrived police.

"Sir we have a serious problem." He stated. The officer looked briefly surprised to see the Human Torch before him. However, he couldn't help but slightly raise an eyebrow at Johnny stating the obvious.

Johnny pointed at the building, "It's going to crash any minute," he then pointed at all the people gathered on the street, "And It could possible crush all of us."

The policeman squinted at the building, and then surveyed the area, before nodding solemnly.

"Alright people, move out!" He bellowed, gaining the attention of the people around him. The officers professionally started to create as much space as possible between the onlookers and the crumbling building. Johnny joined then, yelling at everybody to move to the other side of the road.

After successfully moving everybody to the other sidewalk, Johnny looked back and saw Susan still standing.

She was doing a good job at containing the fire, but he could tell that she was running out of energy.

"Susan!" He shouted, gaining her attention. "Get out of there now, before the whole thing comes down!"

After a moment, Susan let down her arms, the shield disappearing. Her back visibly slumped as she dragged herself away from the flame hell.

She reached Johnny and he clasped her shoulder, telling her that she'd done a good job.

Pressing his lips together firmly, he looked solemnly at the building, regretting that there was nothing more they could do.

His eyes squinted against the fog and he saw something lying in front of the building. At first he thought it was some equipment the firemen had forgotten. His blood froze in all his veins, his heart stopping for several shocking seconds.

_Raven._

Without thinking, he ran at a neck-breaking pace towards the unconscious woman.

"Johnny!" Susan protested, but he ignored her.

"JOHNNY!" He could hear the terrible sound of walls coming apart, but couldn't turn back.

"GET BACK HERE!"

He reached her just as part of the ground floor crumpled down, and he felt his breathing stop.

Bricks and flaming wood rained down on them, just as he picked her up, the rest of the building crashing down.

He felt something hard strike the back of his head and stars and black spots stained his vision. He shook his head to clear it and ran away as fast as he could.

Halfway there, he turned and looked at the destroyed building. The fire had died down somewhat and the building had fallen to one side, allowing an old dark alleyway to reveal itself.

Inside the alleyway, he saw a flash of movement, the glitter of a gun and the swish of black hair.

"Teresa." He muttered, his heart rate increasing in fear and anger.

* * *

Well! This is my first time trying to write anything 'dramatical' so please tell me what you think of it!

As always, I hope you enjoyed and please leave a review! :)


	16. The Fight

Well, I did it again didn't I? I promised to update and I didn't. But once again, my computer broke. The first time it broke, it took a month for it to get repaired and now it seems to be taking just as long.

I've gotten hold of my dads old computer so I can write on that instead, but that means that I won't be able to post as often as I once did, intul my computer returns.

* * *

For the second time in just as many days, Raven was having a hard time waking up. Once again, the meanest headache was tormenting her. She got a strange sense of déjà-vu when she found that she had no idea where she was or how she'd gotten there.

She analyzed her where-abouts, without opening her eyes.

Whatever she was lying on was hard, but she wasn't uncomfortable or sore like she'd imagined, because she was barely touching the surface of what she was lying on. She felt light and wrapped in something comfortable. Something cold and wonderful to the touch. She could feel her hair floating around her, and the slight movement of her floating body.

She was most definitely in water.

Finally prying her eyes open, she realized were she was.

"Oh," she mouthed, when she recognized the bathroom she was in. Turning her head, she also recognized the bathtub she'd been placed in, and the man sitting next to the bathtub, fast asleep.

Johnny's brow was slightly furrowed in his sleep, like it'd been that morning where she'd woken up on the couch in the living room after they had been talking all night.

She sat up from her laying position in the water-filled bathtub. The splashing of the water woke Johnny, who fluttered his eyes open in an attractive and adorable manner. The man had eyelashes any female would envy, she concluded.

For a moment he looked around the bathroom, much like she had, as if unable to remember why he was there.

Then, his eyes lit up and he jumped from his spot, next to her in an instant.

"Thank god!" he exclaimed. He took hold of Ravens head and examined her, to her confusion. He checked her eyes, then her mouth.

"Johnny?"

"Mh?" He looked very distracted and he continued to fish out one of her hands and checking it.

"What are you doing?"

He let go of the hand and looked at her. "You almost killed yourself from dehydration out there," He said seriously, "I need to make sure that you're back to normal."

Raven noticed for the first time that the tab was on, sending lots of water into the tub, though the water level never rose. For a moment, the memories seemed hazy, like she was trying to see them behind a wall of gushing water, but then everything crashed down on her.

"What happened out there? Did anyone get hurt? What about the building?" She turned to him urgently.

Johnny waved her off, "Nobody got hurt, don't worry."

He reached out behind her and closed the tab. She felt his arm brush against her shoulder briefly and it tingled slightly.

"The building was completely destroyed though."

Raven nodded and dipped her hand in the water. She could feel her hand sucking the water up and could see the water level sink.

"How long was I out?" she questioned once all the water was gone. She knew it couldn't have been too long, because she was still in her suit, as was Johnny.

Johnny shrugged slightly, "A few hours." He leaned back against the brown counter of the sink, "It's early morning."

Raven stepped out of the bathtub and studied herself in the mirror. Her eyes were bloodshot, surrounded by dark bags and her skin was a greenish pale.

"I look like crap," she concluded. Johnny laughed.

"Well, we all have our off-days." He comforted, his voice thick with mocking sarcasm. Raven flicked him slightly on the shoulder and brushed past him to leave the bathroom.

Johnny followed behind her. Once in the kitchen, the oven informed her that it was six am.

"Raven, I'm hungry." Johnny whined, sporting an innocent puppy look. A look far too childish and innocent to belong on Johnny's face, Raven concluded,

"Oh?" She raised an eyebrow slightly, "You have my deepest sympathies."

She started laughing when he actually _pouted_. It wasn't a typical childish put though, but a manly model-like smolder.

"I'll make us some breakfast, shall I?" she gave in and examined the contents of their fridge.

* * *

"A-_hem,_"

Raven and Johnny looked up from their card game at the doorway, where Reed stood. He had a newspaper in hand, which his prolonged arm placed in front of them.

On the front, in big bold letters, stood, 'fantastic five?' followed by a picture of Johnny and Raven standing on the street corner they'd been at the day before, and a picture of Raven putting out the fires.

"Nice pictures." Johnny remarked, "I like your facial expression in this one."

Reed joined them at the table, looking confused and annoyed by their calm faces.

"Nice pictures? Johnny, Raven just became public!"

Johnny furrowed his brow slightly, "So?"

"Well, it was very irresponsible of you!"

Raven furrowed her brow too, "why?" she questioned, "It's not like I was going to keep to myself forever."

She looked back at her cards and made her move. Johnny groaned and said, "You are so cheating!" before making his move. They fully expected Reed to leave them alone, but no such luck was granted them.

"Look you two, as long as Teresa is still out there we should be lying low, or Raven should at least."

"Johnny, that's not a legitimate move!"

Reed huffed in annoyance and, prolonging his arms, he took hold of their cards and yanked them from them.

"Reed!"

"Hey man, not cool!"

Reed just stared hard at them, waiting for a serious answer. He wasn't giving back the cards until he'd gotten what he wanted.

Raven sighed and turned in her chair, "Look Reed, there's no reason to panic. Probably all of us knew that this was going to happen at some point. Besides, me going public isn't going to help Teresa in any way. If anything, it should work against her."

Johnny suddenly started squirming in his chair, looking highly uncomfortable. Reed gave him a suspicious look, "What's wrong Johnny?"

Johnny grimaced. "I just remembered.. Last night, I saw Teresa at the scene. I think she started the fire. Perhaps she _wanted _Raven to go public." Both Reed and Johnny looked worried.

"Or perhaps she just wanted to see what I can do?" Raven brushed their concern off easily.

"No, I think.. I think, perhaps, she has some sort of scheme planned." Reed looked genuinely concerned, "I think it'd be best if you stayed low. For now."

"But I wanna help! You saw what I did out there! Johnny would've never been able to get those people out in time, if I hadn't been there!" Raven looked both insulted and afraid that they might force her to stay in the building for the foreseeable future.

"Raven, Reed is right," Johnny surprised all three of them by agreeing with Reed. "If she really has something planned, you should be staying here."

"But-"

"Look, I know it's not the most desirable thing to do. Heck, when I was forced to do the same, I almost went crazy! But it was the only sensible thing to do at the time and I think it's the same with you."

Raven glared angrily at Johnny, feeling extremely betrayed.

"I was locked up in the same dank prison for five years." Her voice was tight with fury and she leaned over the table towards Johnny, "I think I've lost enough of my life in confinement, thank you very much."

Johnny looked regretful, though he didn't back down. "It's for the best." He said.

Raven let out a frustrated sound that sounded like a growl. Angry tears flooded her eyes but she refused let them fall.

She stood from the table, sending Johnny a lingering look of anger and betrayal before storming out the room and out the house.

"Johnny, please talk to her." Reed looked worried and Johnny could understand why.

He soared out of the house through the balcony door. He flew down lower, waiting for Raven to come out the building.

After a moment she came out.

"Raven!" he landed right in front of her, but she simply walked around him, bumping his shoulder in the process and continued down the street. After a moment he followed her

"Raven!" he growled in frustration and followed her. "You can't just leave like that!"

"Why not?" She raised her eyebrows, "It's not like you have any authority over me."

"Wha-" Johnny stopped for a moment, but caught up again quickly, "honestly Raven, this isn't about authority! This is about protecting you." Johnny stopped walking and shouted after her, "This woman is trying to kill you!"

"No, Johnny! She's trying to kill _you_!" She turned around and grounded on him, staring him down, "I'm probably not in any danger whatsoever!"

"But as usual, it's all about you, isn't it?" she continued.

Johnny's face hardened, but he didn't say anything.

"You pretend to be a superhero, helping others, but in reality, you are just an attention seeking man-whore, refusing to grow up!"

By now, they had attracted quite a lot of people, but neither took notice.

Raven could see the fury and danger flashing in Johnny's eyes, but she didn't stop. She couldn't stop.

"You pretend to want to protect me, though you're only worried about looking bad if I actually die! The only thing that's truly important in your life is yourself and in the end, you're going to end up a lonely old man, without any loved ones and without a purpose in life!"

In a split second, Johnny ignited and dragged her with him, high into the sky. Despite the altitude they were in, she fought against him.

"Let -go- of me!" she screamed, but he didn't comply.

He landed them on top of a huge skyscraper and stepped several paces away from her. The wind was strong and chilling up there, but neither was bothered by it.

"Continue." He said in a low growl. "I want to hear you finish it."

"wha-?"

"CONTINUE!" Raven jumped in fright at his roar. His face was murderous, but then again, so was hers.

"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!"

Johnny let out half a laugh, "Are you serious?" he stepped closer to her, "Do you even hear yourself? How dare you say stuff like that in front of so many people? You didn't even mean any of it!"

"Oh, didn't I?" her glared returned, full force, "And how would you know?"

"Because I know you, Raven."

She did all she could to anger him and though he seemed very angry, he didn't shout at her like she'd wanted him to. If he started shouting too, she wouldn't feel as guilty as she did. But, she had started this and she needed to finish it.

"You don't know me Johnny. You know nothing about me, so stop pretending that you do!" She stepped closer still, getting into his face fiercely. "If you really knew me, you'd realize that I won't be confined in the Baxter building. You can tie me down!"

"Is that what you think? Well then, I'm SORRY for trying to protect you!" Johnny paced around, creating distance between them.

"You aren't trying to protect anyone but yourself!"

"YES I AM!" Raven fell silent.

"I AM TRYING TO PROTECT YOU FROM KILLING YOURSELF!"

"I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF!"

Johnny chuckled darkly, "Yes, so far you've proved to be excellent at protecting yourself."

Raven let out a furious scream and sent a strong gush of water at him, making him stagger. With a roar of his own, he returned the favor. At the same time, they attacked each other, water and fire meeting in a terrifying hiss. Steam rose between them, so much that they couldn't see each other. Down on the streets, people stopped and pointed up at the building's roof, which was completely covered in fog.

They stepped ever closer to each other, neither willing to back down. Soon they were face to face, hands almost touching.

Sweat was on Ravens brow. It took all of her strength to not stagger back, so powerful was the force of their battling powers.

In the end, Johnny stepped down because he didn't want to hurt her, and he knew that while his power supply was endless, hers wasn't.

Raven didn't stop though, so he was blown off the building. He ignited, floating just off the roof.

"Come back when you've seen reason and stopped acting like such a selfish spoiled brat." He said venomously and flew off.

"I'm not coming back! Not ever!" She screamed angrily at him, but he was already far away and the wind carried her voice in the wrong direction.

She shrieked in frustration and fury, not able to contain the overshadowing anger, which was eating her up from the inside.

"I HATE YOU!" she shouted into the sky, knowing that he wouldn't hear her.

"Well, well, well." A voice said behind her, "trouble in your little superhero haven?"

Raven froze. She heard a small _zip_ and felt something pierce her skin.

Then darkness.

* * *

I felt like something needed to happen. And something certain happened!

I heop you enjoyed this and as usual, please REVIEW to let me know what you think!

Have a lovely day everyone!


	17. The Abduction

Aw you guys, not a single review? I'm wounded. Let's try and get rid of that terrible habbit shall we?

I apologize for the last updating, but as long as my own computer is being repaired, updates will be harder.

* * *

"Where's Raven?" Reed asked once Johnny came through the balcony door, scowling deeply.

"Why should I know," He replied snottily and headed for his room. One of Reeds long arms reached out and grabbed him, turning him around. Johnny scowled deeper and lit himself on fire.

Reed let out a yelp and removed his arm immediately, "Johnny! What was that for? I just asked where Raven was!"

Johnny turned on his heel, resuming his walk to his room. "WHY DON'T YOU ASK THAT BITCH YOURSELF?!" He roared once he reached his door.

Reed looked shocked and stared at the door Johnny had just slammed shut violently.

In his room, Johnny packed together all of his belongings as fast as he could. He did not intend to be in the building once Raven returned; he was moving into his own apartment for a while.

Sipping a bag up, he did a double check of the room and left.

"Jesus!" he exclaimed once he came face to face with Susan as soon as he left the room, "what's wrong with you people?"

"Johnny." Susan fixed him with the most frightening look he'd ever seen. "Where. Is. Raven?"

He groaned and rubbed a hand over his face, "somewhere in the city." He returned her glare, "I don't know, nor do I care."

He shouldered past her, unwilling to say anything else on the subject.

"Johnny, what happened?" she demanded. His whole body tensed up, expecting a fit from Susan at any time. He heaved a big sigh and turned to her. It looked like he'd have to elaborate after all. "We had a fight, okay? She started shouting in the middle of the street, so I flew us to the top of some building. She.." The anger returned as he recalled the event, "she attacked me. Used her powers."

Now that he thought of it, he was shocked at what had happened. Before that moment, he'd only felt anger, hadn't thought about what he- or she- had been doing, acting on feelings and instinct only.

"And I did too." He admitted, "Only by instinct!" he quickly added after Susan opened her mouth to, undoubtedly, shout at him. "I left her on that roof, telling her to come back when she'd cooled down."

"Well 'cool down' she most certainly _will_. Those rooftops are cold and windy." Johnny hiked the straps of his bag pack further up on his shoulder and frowned at her dry words, "And she probably can't get down at all." He relaxed slightly, because she wasn't shouting at him at all or seemed mad, like he'd fought she would.

"HOW COULD YOU BE SO STUPID!"

.. scratch that, she was furious.

"You go right back and get her down NOW!" Johnny's stomach dropped. The last thing he wanted was to face Raven right now.

"But-"

"I don't want to hear it!"

Suddenly, he was angry again. He was so tired of Susan's constant bossy attitude. He was so _sick_ of her acting like she was his mother, so annoyed by her never ending reprimands. In a split second, he managed to recall every single moment in his life where Susan had acted like his mother and where he had obeyed her instead of putting her in her place.

"Just _stop_, Susan!" He exploded, "Stop constantly acting like you're mom, I'm sick of it! You aren't and you have no right to tell me what to do!" He let go of his bag and ignored the slightly indignant look she sported. "Mom is _dead_, but that doesn't give you the right to take her place. Sometimes I need an older sister, not a mother, okay?"

Now she looked sad. He picked his bag up again and turned away from her. Before he left, he muttered, "People always tell me how sorry they are for the loss of my mother. But I never lost my mother that day, I lost my sister."

With that he walked out the door.

After dumping his stuff in his apartment, Johnny did check on Raven. He was still mad with her, but had managed to cool down enough to understand that he might've acted a little rashly and that she probably couldn't get down at all, without his help.

From his apartment, he tried to spot the building he'd left her on. For a brief moment, the surprise from her actually attacking him came back. It was strange; they had always gotten along so great and suddenly a small insignificant thing made them at each other's throats.

After a moment, he found the building and flew out his window towards it.

She wasn't there, he concluded immediately after landing. He also noticed the lack of doors, so he knew that she couldn't have gotten down without help. But who had helped her then? Was this even the right roof?

Johnny figured that it probably wasn't the right roof and flew up over the city, trying to spot any other roofs that looked familiar.

Half an hour, and many rooftops later, she was still gone. And Johnny started to grow worried. Where could she have gone?

Getting down by herself probably wouldn't have been possible, so who had helped her?

Or perhaps the better question would be; had she been helped or forced?

He tried to push the thought away, but it came anyway. _Teresa_.

Teresa!

He had seen her just twelve hours ago and he knew she was on the move! Johnny slapped his hand on his forehead in frustration.

How could he have been so stupid and forgetful?

If Teresa really had taken her, Raven was in big trouble. And he felt that it was his duty to save her again, felt responsible for the whole thing.

Johnny had to save her.

She meant too much to him, for him not attempt some stupid rescue plan.

All the needed was for the others to help him. Besides, he wasn't even sure if she had even been abducted by Teresa. After all, Raven was a strong woman who could take care of herself, despite him telling her the opposite.

He needed to search the building they'd been on, for any signs.

He made quick work of landing on the rooftop he'd started on, feeling quite sure that this was the one, after all.

There wasn't much to the rooftop, only the hard grey concrete floor and some chimney of sorts.

A nice fat line of water ran across the floor, where it met up with a scorched black mark, which finished the line to the other side of the building.

This was clearly where they'd been fighting.

And there where wet footsteps there too.

He could identify both his and Ravens, looking the same, only in different sizes. They had both been wearing the uniform, to their footprints where identical.

But there was a third trail.

Someone else had been up there, someone with women's feet.

The cold dread that slithered down his spine proved that Johnny had a theory as to who the third set belonged to.

* * *

When people have nightmares, waking up is always a huge relief. We find ourselves trapped in our own mind and when we finally rejoin the real world, the dream seems faint and distant and no longer important.

'Just a dream.' We will whisper and calm down in a matter of moment.

_Just a dream_.

But it wasn't just a dream. The darkness was real. The claustrophobia was real. The stuffy air and dank smell were very, _very_, real.

Her prison was real.

She was back.

And like the nightmares people forget as soon as they wake up, the real world was gone. The new-found freedom lost. Happiness crushed. Hope disappeared.

Because she was back.

When the darkness of her unconsciousness disappeared, she didn't even have to open her eyes to know where she was. She could feel the cold dirty ground underneath her, just like she had every morning for five years. The distant sound of waters _drip.. drip.._ could be heard, all too familiar. It had nearly driven her insane the last time she'd been here.

She opened her eyes and found darkness even blacker than the darkness she'd been in while unconscious.

The darkness seemed to weigh down on her, until she couldn't even move from her spot on the floor, despite how uncomfortable it was.

The fat tears leaked from her eyes and to her horror, her skin absorbed them again. She was back to the start. She was exactly where she'd been for those five years, nothing had changed.

Now, it seemed cruel that she'd even been outside, had been allowed to taste that small drop of freedom, if she was only going to be imprisoned again.

The despair she felt was crushing her heart. She felt hatred build up in her, hatred directed at the world, for its unfairness.

The panic settled in too. For a moment, she could almost physically feel the electricity course through her body, just like when Dr Doom had performed experiments on her. She mentally told herself sternly that it wasn't real, that she was imagining it, but for every passing second it became harder, to the point where she let out cries of pain and jerked in spasms on the floor.

She didn't know how long this continued, only that it felt like a lifetime. When she finally calmed down, she started to silently cry.

Her silent crying turned into sobbing, and grew in volume until she was wailing loudly.

Sorrow filled her up and blended in with the despair in a dangerous mix and for the first time in her life, she seriously considered taking her own life.

Then one thought entered her mind. It wormed its way through all the fear all the despair all the hopelessness.

Johnny would help her.  
Johnny would save her.

He had saved her before, from her own mind. He'd saved her from trying to jump off a building. He had stopped Teresa from shooting her.

Johnny, Johnny, Johnny.

For a moment, he consumed her every thought.

And then there was hope. It was a small light in the darkness of her mind, but it grew and grew until even the physical darkness around her seemed lighter.

She jumped up and felt for the bars which she knew was containing her.

"Teresa!" She shouted into the darkness, knowing that the woman had some way of hearing her.

She found the bars and rattled them violently. "Teresa!" She said even louder and went in search of the lock.

"TERESA!" The growl of anger she let out was not entirely human. "COME HERE!"

Her voice was high pitch and sounded terrible in her own ears as it bounced back to her, "I swear I will kill you if you don't let me out right now!"

A dark chuckled sounded throughout the room, sending shivers down her spine.

"If you ever want to get out again, I suggest you behave." The voice was slightly metallic, but it was Teresa's. It came from the speaker in one corner of the room.

Raven furiously directed a splash of water at it, hoping to destroy the mechanism.

A satisfying _bzzzr_ and a single spark emitted from the speaker and, even in the midst of her situation, she managed to smirk slightly.

Teresa might've recaptured her, but she had changed.

She wasn't scared or spineless anymore. She had been outside for some months now and it had made her stronger, better, than before.

Teresa had locked her up again, but Raven would be damned if she made this whole thing easy for Teresa.

Hell would freeze over before she submitted to Teresa and admitted defeat.

She was going to fight Teresa on every aspect, she was going to annoy and anger the woman as much as possible, until the day one of them died, or Raven was released. She knew that Teresa held all the cards, had the power required over her, knew that she would force her to cooperate, but Raven would fight her every step on the way.

She knew that despite her destroying the speaker, she could still communicate with Teresa, one-sidedly.

"I will fight you for a long as it takes!" she clarified, feeling a sense of pride well in her; she'd never been brave enough to properly stand up to Teresa. "Do you hear me? I'll be a pebble in your shoe in everything you do; I will never stop fighting you for as long as I am here!"

She paced the small prison slightly, like a lioness in a cage at Zoo, stalking its prey, watching the humans, who were only safe because of the bars separating them.

"So bring it on!" she challenged, "Because I can do this all my life!"

And with that, she found the wall with one hand and went along it until she rediscovered the cot she knew was in there. She sat down, seemingly at perfect ease, in a cross-legged position against the wall and waited for Teresa to make her move.

This wasn't a simple abduction anymore; It was a full-blow war of wills.

And she intended to win.

* * *

Well, looks like Raven plans on being annoying!

I hope you liked this and please leave a REVIEW!


	18. The Battle of Wills

See? Fast, aren't I?! This one is actually a bit longer than normal and it has one important element in it. You'll see!

* * *

Teresa almost let out a scream of frustration: Raven was officially becoming the most annoying being on the planet and driving Teresa insane in the process.

"_Twinkle, twinkle, little star," _Raven sang for what must have been the tenth time in a row. "_how I wonder what you are," _

While Raven had destroyed the speaker in the room, leaving Teresa unable to communicate with her, she had 'graciously' left the microphone, which broadcasted any noise she made straight to the laboratory, functional.

And she was using it to her advantage. How she'd figured out that the microphone couldn't be turned off, Teresa didn't know. It was installed during one of Victor's lapses in intelligence and he'd instructed for the mic to be unable to turn off.

"Genius brother, _really." _She growled. Teresa stood stiffly in front of a computer screen, which monitored the room Raven was in. Since the room was completely dark, the camera used night vision, making the picture green and unclear. Sitting at the computer right next to the one Teresa was looking at, was a small and plumb man, with greasy hair and glasses. Upon hearing Teresa's low growl, he looked at her as discreetly as possible.

Teresa noticed and sent him a fierce glare.

Inside Raven's room, said girl had started on a new tune, this one being 'Old McDonald'.

In the beginning she'd just been talking nonstop, but ran out of things to say, turning her towards an even more annoying solution: singing every single child's song she knew.

"_EE-I-EE-I-O," _Teresa bit down on her tongue to keep from screaming out loud. She refused to back down: Raven was only waiting for her to snap and come to her. The singing in itself wasn't that annoying; it was the fact that Raven didn't even seem to care that she was a prisoner. Teresa had expected her to turn into the blubbering mess she'd been before- and during- her first capture, but the girl had surprised her.

As a professional spy, Teresa knew how to deal with hostages. She'd been prepared for practically any possible abduct scenario. She knew how to handle the people that fought back, how to trick the weak into giving up information, how to lull them into a false sense of security, how to force information from even the strongest and most stubborn of people.

She knew how to take care of insane people, how to twist their minds into doing what she wanted. She knew how to handle old, young and middle-aged people.

She could deal with resistance, with stupidity, with reluctance, insanity, intelligence, sarcasm, unwillingness and liars.

"Turn up the room's temperature to 40 degrees Celsius." She ordered through clenched teeth, her jaw tight and stiff, "and keep turning up the heat until she stops."

What she hadn't been prepared for, was deliberate childishness from a grown woman. The scenario she was facing now was probably the _only_ scenario she hadn't been prepared for.

Most of her spy training was useless.

Unlike a real child, she couldn't just coo at it and act sweetly to get the child to talk, but she couldn't talk to Raven as an adult either, because she wouldn't answer.

Raven had, in an act of strategic brilliance, placed herself in a blank part of Teresa's otherwise very thorough skill set.

That meant that Teresa was going to have to play dirty. She had to force Raven out of that blank spot, out of that safe place, to a place where Teresa could put her knowledge and training to use.

If Raven wasn't going to stop tormenting her and she wasn't going to come to her, there were other alternatives.

* * *

"-O!" Raven finished off 'Old McDonald', smirking in satisfaction. Her throat was raw and throbbing painfully, her voice low and scratchy, but stopping was not an option. Her whole plan was insecure, but she had nothing else. She couldn't even be sure that Teresa was _in_ the building, though something told her she was.

She figured that Teresa was going to stay and observe her for some time. One of those 'know your enemy' deals. Besides, Raven knew that Teresa probably was scheming out several sick experiments she was going to conduct on Raven, her former favorite guinea pig.

Raven allowed herself a short rest, knowing that if she kept going, she'd lose her voice entirely. And that just wouldn't do, if she really planned to drive the woman insane with her singing.

Besides, singing for hours made you tired. Not to mention hungry.

Briefly wondering whether Teresa was going to feed her or not, Raven stood and paced slightly around the small prison: she'd been sitting in the same position for hours and her back and legs were sore.

She knew that Teresa would be able to see her, through some sort of night vision camera, and that moving around would set Teresa on edge.

After walking around, she stretched her sore muscles, hearing a satisfying _crack_ from her back, and sat down again.

Her stomach let out a low growl and ached slightly from hunger. She could last a couple of hours more, she figured. She sent a silent _thank you_ to Johnny, who had forced her to eat a big, healthy breakfast that morning. If she had skipped breakfast, she would've been a lot more miserable now.

She knew she'd have to get food at some point, as knew Teresa.

Deciding to stop singing the next couple of hours, hoping to cool down Teresa enough for her to give her food, she leaned against the wall and sighed loudly.

After a moment, she lay down and tried to fall asleep. She figured that Teresa would be able to relax better if she was asleep, which heightened the possibility of food when she woke up.

It was all a game of intricate small gestures that would reward her in the end. Teresa didn't know this, because she didn't realize just how well Raven actually knew her.

She couldn't fall asleep, but while pretending to, she had lots of time to think. To her own surprise, her thoughts repeatedly returned to Johnny. Not Adrian like she'd expected, but Johnny.

With some amount of surprise, she noticed that her heart rate increased just by thinking about him. She got goose bumps when she thought of his ridiculously blue and innocent eyes that always seemed to be able to read her like an open book. It was insulting that a man who was anything but innocent could have such innocent looking eyes.

She had never had as much fun as when she was with Johnny. Much like her, he was random and energetic and there was never a boring moment when she was with him.

Before then, she'd believed Adrian to be perfect for her, because he was so realistic and kept her earth-bound, but now she knew those where the very things that were wrong in their relationship. She had never been completely free in their relationship. She hadn't been unhappy, quite the opposite in fact, but she hadn't been entirely happy either.

It wasn't like that with Johnny. He was a free spirit, just like her, and he understood her in everything.

Adrian hadn't been the perfect man for her. But she realized that Johnny _was_.

_I think I might have feelings for Johnny, _she thought. She wasn't quite sure how she was supposed to react to that, so she pushed the thought away, for future analyzing.

She thought of the last time she'd seen him and her face grew hot with mortification. Why had she been so stupid! She was embarrassed beyond belief and for a moment she feared that Johnny wouldn't look for her, wouldn't care that she was gone because of the things she'd said.

But this was Johnny she was talking about! He got really mad, but only for a short time. Of course he'd look for her; of course he'd be worried.

Whether Johnny worried about her or not, she had to get out on her own accord.

Waiting for a knight in shining armor just wasn't her style.

She couldn't have been sure if ten minutes or three hours had passed by, when she sat up again. She hadn't been sleeping at all: she was too hungry and too distracted by her thoughts to sleep.

She looked to where she knew the general direction of the camera were, the perfect picture of innocence as she tilted her head to the side and asked, "Aren't you going to feed a poor little prisoner?"

That was when she noticed the heat. She couldn't feel much difference, but she was pretty sure the room had gotten warmer, stuffier.

With an over exaggerated smile, she realized that Teresa was trying to break her down with the temperature.

Teresa assumed that too much heat would make her dehydrate or give her a splitting headache. Raven couldn't help but let out a laugh. "Heating the room won't do much, Teresa." She shouted cheekily, "I'm ninety percent water, remember? Temperatures don't affect me much." and then she laughed again.

At that moment, the door opened, letting in a thin sliver of light. "Oh, room service." She mocked at the elderly man in the stereotypical lab coat.

He sniffed at her as if the very idea of him being room service was ridiculous, and set down the tray containing her food. Teresa must've learned, because she hadn't even bothered to bring Raven any water.

She hadn't been expecting a feast, but the food was more than disappointing. Nothing but a loaf of dry bread. Even when she'd been captured the first time, Dr Doom had made sure she didn't die from malnourishment, giving her both bread meat and sometimes fruit or vegetables, so this was a new low.

"Really, Teresa?" She cocked a sarcastic eyebrow, "Just a loaf of bread?"

The man pushed the tray within her reach without a word and scrambled out the room: He knew that she was dangerous. "Even your crazy brother gave me a healthier diet!" she taunted into the empty room. "Even that maniacal idiot who left you to take care of the ruins he called a company!"

Despite her hunger, she ignored the bread for a little while longer, to appear strong and independent of Teresa's charity. She stalked around behind her bars like a predator. "He always called me his 'toy', but I never was! I was just an experiment." A grim smile marred her features. She needed Teresa to get so angry, she'd either contact her or take her into the lab, to perform experiments of torture on her.

Annoying the woman to insanity had clearly not been the right way to go, so now she had to settle for a more dangerous, but perhaps more effective alternative.

If she could lure Teresa into a state of fury, she wouldn't be thinking clearly and she might let Raven out to get revenge on her, in the lab. The plan was risky, but it was a chance Raven was willing to take. If she could get out of the room, she could use her powers to escape.

"YOU were his real toy! He never loved you or respected you, as a brother should, he _used_ you! And you, in your blind idiocy fell for it!" she let out a cold laughter even though she wasn't really amused. "You're ridiculous! You call yourself smart and intelligent and yet you continuously fool yourself into think that he actually _cared _about you!" She took the bread and brutally bit a piece off, smirking and chuckling in the process.

Then, she sat down and waited for a reaction.

_Your move, Teresa._

* * *

"Are you absolutely sure that's what happened?" Reed asked.

"Yes!" Johnny felt like stomping his foot on the ground like a child."I found the right building and there were clear trails of a third person there!" he turned and looked a Ben, Susan and the Reed in turn, "Teresa kidnapped Raven!"

He dumped into a chair and held his head in his hands, frustration and worry coming of him in waves.

"Okay! Okay, Johnny, we believe you." Reed reassured him, "what do we do?"

Johnny peaked at him through his fingers, sending him a look that clearly said '_and you're supposed to be the genius?' _

"Well, we rescue her, of course." Johnny exclaimed, "Duh!" he added as an afterthought.

"Rescuing her might not be that simple, Johnny." Susan said, always the rational one. "We can't just break into a building."

"You wanna bet?" Johnny gave her a challenging look. He was going to rescue Raven, even if he had to set an entire building on fire to do it.

"Hey hothead, calm down." Ben grumbled, "We're going to get her, of course we are, but we need a plan."

In sync, everyone turned to Reed.

He looked at each of them for a moment, before pressing his lips together in determination and going 'serious superhero mode'.

"I think I might have an idea." He said.

"Thank god!" Johnny threw his hands into the air, "Finally you're going to do something!"

Sue sent him a look that clearly didn't appreciate his snarky-ness.

_I'm going to get you, Raven, _he mentally promised, wishing that she'd somehow hear him.

* * *

Niice. I feel proud of myself for getting this done already.

Soon, ve vill get to da fluffy paarts

Mwahaha!

(that spelling was deliberate!)

Anyway, please REVIEW and I will love you forever!

Oh, and I promise a personal PM to who-ever leaves a review, to show my appreciation!


	19. The Revelation

This is longer than usual, but I couldn't stop myself. My muse is crazy. Also, no Johnny POV in this, but I don't think you'll be disappointed.. Spoiler!

* * *

Apparently, Ravens plan to madden Teresa enough for her to seek revenge had worked too well, given how Raven had been the victim of several, painful, experiments the last three hours.

_Torture, not experiments_, she grumbled to herself. She lay on the floor in the middle of her cell, every part of her body on fire.

Not the Johnny kind of fire, but the bad kind. She couldn't remember being in this much pain before, though she knew she'd probably tried worse.

After the first half hour, the experiments sort of blended together and the details were sketchy. She was pretty sure that needles and electroshock had been involved, though.

Barely seconds after Raven had finished her long degrading speech, Teresa had marched in with two strong-looking guards, handcuffed and gagged Raven, and dragged her into the laboratory.

At first, the fat scientist-looking guy in the lab-coat had been uneasy with the whole idea of performing experiments on another human, but Teresa had threatened him. He'd complied in the end.

And after only a few minutes, he'd had no trouble with the torturing at all. He'd been completely enthralled with the way she writhed in pain, and the muffled sounds of agony that slipped through the gag.

_Sick.._

Raven wasn't quite sure what had suddenly changed in him, only that the small piece of compassion he'd had before, was gone.

He was probably one of those people how'd been teased in school by the other kids, maybe abused by his parents, making him spineless and easy to manipulate. And then, when he was finally in charge, that power got to him. The prospect of having control of another person was too tempting for him to let something as silly as _humanity_ get in the way.

She hadn't exactly gotten around to escaping.

During the short walk between the cell and the lab, she'd been too blinded by the sudden light to escape. Then, she'd been strapped to what looked like a horizontal bed made of metal, before her vision had returned properly, and it'd been too late to do anything about her situation.

The first twenty minutes, she had resisted with all her might, making fluids erupt from their containers and attacking the professor-guy with them.

Maybe that's what had made him enjoy the experiments. She'd annoyed the compassion out of him. She was pretty sure she hit him and the guards with acid at some point, judging by the professor's angry –and painful- cry.

They had been forced to give her some sort of strange injection with a light blue see-through liquid, that made her whole body go as limb as cooked spaghetti.

She hadn't been able to move, but she could certainly still feel the pain.

After three hours, her heart rate had risen dangerously, and Teresa had ordered him to stop.

"Can't have her dying on us." She'd smirked.

Then as she was led back down to her cell, Raven had thought about trying to escape again, but she was too weak and in pain. Her thoughts had been too muddled to do anything and the effects of that awful injection they'd given her had barely started to wear off. Even if she did manage to somehow overpower the guards, she still couldn't move a millimeter: escaping at that point had been impossible.

The two guards had had to practically drag her down to her cell.

"That really backfired.." she tried to mumbled out loud, but all she said were a few bubbling noises. She tried to move her body, at least to try and move herself onto the small cot, which was far more comfortable that the floor, but got little more response than a light twitching of her limbs.

How long had she lain there? She couldn't remember. She figured she should've been hungry, if she hadn't completely lost her appetite from the pain and the wobbly limpness of her body. It was a good thing she wasn't hungry, because she wouldn't be able to move for a long time, so eating was out of the question.

Still, she felt a slight panic settle. What if it took days for the limpness to go away? What if it took even longer and she actually died of hunger, because she couldn't eat?

Even worse, she was terrified of Teresa coming back for more. She figured that the torture wasn't over, far from it. Raven had prided herself in being strong, being able to resist Teresa, fight against her, but she realized now that she was going to lose. Teresa held all the best cards.

In their little game of wills, Raven had a meager pair of threes while Teresa sat with a royal straight flush.

She had overestimated herself and her strength. Because she wouldn't be able to last long against Teresa's torture. She could already feel her resolve slipping away. If Teresa came back, she was going to surrender.

And then she was going to die.

Because that was just what Teresa was waiting for. She was going to break Raven, body, soul and mind, and then kill her.

_Now would be a great time to save me, Johnny. _She thought wryly.

As if on cue the door opened. Her back was to the door so she couldn't see who it was. Light flooded into the room. Raven looked at the wall, where she could see the shadow of the person, who was decidedly male. They stopped in the doorway for a moment, before stepping further into the room.

Ravens heartbeat increased with fright. Teresa had sent a guard to get her again. She was going to finish the job. Raven was going to die.

_Oh god.._

She felt slightly lightheaded with fear and if she could have moved, her body would've tensed up.

She kept her gaze stiffly on the shadow of the man. After a moment's hesitation, he crossed the small space between the door and the bars. Raven could hear the rattling of the lock, then the squeak of the rusty doors opening.

She felt tears leave her eyes, some trailing down her face, some absorbed by her skin. _If only I could move!_ She screamed in her mind just as the man crouched down beside her.

She couldn't close her eyes, but she desperately wished that she could, so she could block out the world. Expecting to be pulled roughly to her feet, she was surprised when the man put a hand on her shoulder in what could only be described as comforting.

A shudder went through her body and it originated from where the hand touched her shoulder.

Then the hand moved up and wiped some hair away from her face, before settling on her cheek.

"What did they do to you?"She heard him mutter at the same time as the skin on her cheek started sizzling and vapor erupted.

Relief washed through her entire being. _Johnny!_

Her eyes darted slowly and sloppily towards him, but he was just out of viewing range. She needed to see him, needed to be sure that he was really there and not just a figment of her imagination.

The hand on her cheek stroked her pale skin slightly before turning her onto her back.

Their eyes met and she instantly recognized him. He had really come to save her. Johnny was here, Johnny cared.

He was so beautiful right then, a slight crease between his brows, his eyes dark with concern.

But the trouble look on his face wasn't what made him beautiful. It was because that concern was for _her_.

The embarrassing but undeniable, unavoidable and un-ignorable desire to kiss him welled up in her so fiercely that she was almost glad she couldn't move: her numbness was the only thing keeping her from jumping his bones.

She tried to smile at him, but only a slight twitching of her lips was fabricated. He must've noticed, for his eyes darted to her mouth and then back to her eyes, before smiling wryly.

She tried to return the smile through her eyes, but wasn't successful: his smile disappeared and he looked worried again.

"Raven, I'm so sorry for leaving you on that building. I'm sorry for letting her hurt you." he put a hand under her head and placed her against his lap. "This is my entire fault!" he looked incredibly regretful and she rolled her eyes: how typical of him to start a conversation like this, where she couldn't take the blame herself, because she couldn't talk!

"I'm going to get you out of here." He promised as he swooped her up in his arms, seemingly effortless, and out into the corridor.

He frowned at her limpness, hoisting her further into his arms before continuing down the hall. Halfway there, Reed poked his head, attached to a prolonged neck, through the open doorway.

"Found her?" Relief washed over his face when he saw the girl Johnny was cradling like a little baby. "Let's get out of here. The guards will find out we're here any minute."

Johnny nodded seriously and followed Reed, who headed for the opened laboratory door. They stepped through the huge door and hurried down the new hall. At the end of said hall, they met up with Ben, who'd been standing watch. "Is she alright?" his gravel voice was laced with concern at the sight of the seemingly dead girl.

"She's fine," Johnny said, "Well.. She's alive." He corrected himself after looking down at the boneless girl, whose eyes were moving sloppily and unfocused, one of her arms dangling limply, a slight trail of drool down her chin.

Raven's heart was in her throat during the entirety of their escape. Any minute she expected someone to show up and stop them, possibly kill them.

But these were the Fantastic Four, right? They would get her out safely! She knew they were strong, clever and good at what they did. Even when she was held prisoner by Dr Doom the first time, before she had completely lost her mind, she'd heard the whispering rumor of Doom's imprisonment at the hands of four brilliant scientists, whose powers outmatched Dooms. The professors had been fidgety and frightened, not performing any new experiments on her, only the typical old research, for months for fear of these new superheroes.

"They can see through walls, I've heard." One said.

"They can hear the sound of people asking for help halfway across the globe!" Another said.

The doctors were all nut-jobs, halfway believing in supernatural things like magic and monsters under their beds, and these new superheroes scared the living shit out of them. but, they were the only people sick enough to do what Dr Doom would ask them to do.

In those months Raven felt the parts of her sanity she had lost return slightly, fueled by the hope these new heroes gave her.

If they really could do all those things, surely they would come and save her, right?

Half a year later, she was not so sure. The rest of her sanity slipped through her fingers like sand, locking itself up in the deepest part of her mind, waiting with that hope, waiting for the heroes to set it free and cleanse its owner's mind again.

But they hadn't come, in the end. Her sanity newer lost that hope, somehow it always knew that they, that _he_, would save her, but the insane Raven lost hope. The insane Raven spent nights boiling with anger over these '_superheroes'_, these '_freedom fighters_', these _'justice-doers'._

The anger grew into hate, an intense, overshadowing hate that threatened to eat her up from the inside. Dr Doom had tried for years to brainwash her completely into believing what he told her: that he was good, they were evil, Raven was better off dead.. but he had never quite succeeded.

That small, but strong, amount of sanity held onto her tightly, fiercely telling that it was a lie, all a lie. Her destroyed mind was halfway between her sanity and Dr Doom's reality. It figured that Doom told the truth, but some small part of her always gnawed at her with doubt and questioning. Was he _really_ telling the whole truth? He _had_ hurt her, why should she trust him? What if he was lying? The questions kept her awake at night and in the day she was too scared to fall asleep.

All those lies he fed her she never believed fully, until she grew to hate the heroes herself.

In the end, it was her own mind which betrayed her. It was her mind that told her that he was right. The sanity in her cried in agony, because it _knew. _It knew that Doom was evil, that Raven deserved to live, that_ Johnny_ was going to save it, save her. But she didn't listen to it. She was too far out to listen to it.

Then after years of absence, Dr Doom returned shortly, only for a few days and, and then disappeared again, forever. She couldn't remember exactly what had happened during those days, only that it was hurtful.

Shortly after, Teresa visited her for the first time in a long time, claiming that she would grant Raven freedom _and_ the opportunity to get revenge on the people she hated so much.

The idea of revenge was so sweet, so fulfilling in her crippled mind, she'd accepted without hesitation.

The locked up sanity protest, said it was a bad idea, but she could not be stopped: she was like Gollum, drawn to the ring, the revenge, the object of her desires, her obsession, unable to resist.

When she later failed to kill Reed, she hated herself. She wanted to die. After all those years of Doom telling her that she'd be better off dead, he still hadn't convinced her fully. She disliked herself and her life, but she didn't _hate _herself. Well, now she did. _Now_ she wanted to die. Her world was dark and filled with shadows; she was lost in the darkness, lost in the labyrinth that was her damaged mind.

But then, there was light and warmth.

For a short time, she woke up and came face to face with the most beautiful man she'd ever seen. He was an angel. He was _her_ angel. He was a beacon of light, which guided her in the right direction. He was everything to her, kindness, fun, warmth, loyalty, everything. She'd disappeared again into the depths of her insanity, but the memory of that angel had burned itself permanently into her skull and the next time he came, it was much easier to wake up.

Suddenly, the insanity slipped away, the dark labyrinth of shadows gave way to the light of her sanity and she was free. He had set her free.

She loved him.

Raven's closed eyes darted open at the revelation.

She really loved him.

It made her want to cry, she didn't know with happiness or sorrow.

She looked around again: they had met up with Susan and all where now headed for the roof of the Baxter building, in one of Reed's creations.

Johnny was still holding her like a baby, like a fragile object. She was horribly embarrassed, hoping stupidly that she wasn't drooling.

She closed her eyes again, glad that her eyelids were working again. When she opened them again, she was in her bed in the apartment, Johnny at her side.

It was insane and irresponsible, terribly timed and doomed to hurt her, but it was true nonetheless. Oh, how she loved him. She desired him like nothing else, and not just his body, but his mind and soul, his brilliant personality, his good heart.. She wanted to be owned by him, wanted to put herself completely at his mercy, wanted to make her irrevocably his.

A single tear slipped from her eye and, to her horror, Johnny noticed.

"Are you okay?" he sounded concerned and it made her heart swell with emotions she couldn't pin down.

She tried to speak, but her mouth would not cooperate. Seeing her struggle, he placed a warm finger on her lips and shushed her, "It's okay, don't worry." He moved his finger from her mouth and stroked her cheek instead. "Reed said you'd be fine: the injection should wear off soon enough."

She felt extremely relaxed at the feeling of his hand stroking her cheek and she closed her eyes, concentrating on the sensation.

Without realizing it, she was slowly lulled to sleep.

She dreamt of Johnny that night.

* * *

Oh, yes I _DID_.

Hope you liked THAT!

Tomorrow's my birthday, so how about a nice REVIEW as a present for old me? :D


	20. The Feelings

Here it is! A bit of Johnny POV, not much, but worth it!

* * *

As soon as she opened her eyes again, Raven was sure she was still dreaming. Beause she wasn't captive anymore. She was in her own room. In her own bed. Comfortable. Safe. For a moment, she lay, blinking at the ceiling, trying to convince herself that she was dreaming, while still hoping that she wasn't. She considered pinching herself, but out of fear of waking actually waking up, she didn't. If she really was asleep, she'd rather stay in her dream for a while longer.

Next to her, something shifted, and she swallowed down a gasp of surprise. The feel of someone breathing on her forced her to slowly turn her head and look at what it was.

It was a sleeping Johnny.

Like a flash of lightning, she saw, heard and re-experienced everything that had happened the day before.

She certainly remembered thinking that she was in love with Johnny.

Which was, of course, ridiculous. She wasn't in love. She was just emotionally confused. She'd been trapped for six years and he was the first male to pay her any attention. Naturally, she'd _think_ she had a crush on him, or he had a crush on her, at some point. It wasn't even her fault; it was the way of nature. Men and women couldn't be friends for long without one party getting confusing feelings about the other. Luckily, those kinds of feelings disappeared soon enough, so she wasn't too worried.

Sure, he was good looking, sure, he was funny and charming. True, he was a great friend, patient enough to put up with all her emotional problems. Yes, he helped her save her from herself, he _was_ the one who got through to her and the only person she really felt that comfortable talking to, but _loving _him?

Ridiculous.

And yet, she had to keep her hand from running through his deliciously blond hair.

It was a passing fancy. She had had those before. Heck, although very short lasting, she'd even had a crush on Victor Von Doom, when she first started working for him. In a week or two, she would've forgotten all about this little problem.

She moved again so she was facing the ceiling again, trying to put her own mind at ease. _Not in love with him, not in love with him, not in love with him. _

Suddenly he shifted again and she looked back at him. He frowned slightly and let out a short moan, which did terrible things to her. _You are not allowed to sound so sexy, just by waking up!_

She felt like slapping herself for thinking that.

He sat up and stretched slightly; letting out several more sound, which all rattled her poor fragile nerves.

_Not in love with him, NOT IN LOVE WITH HIM!_

He finally opened his eyes and she positively melted when their eyes connected. His opened enormously and a smile split his features. A cute, boyish, insultingly attractive smile.

_Oh, bullocks.._

Okay, so maybe she did have serious feelings for him, but was she really in love with him? She tried to continue her mantra of 'not in love with him', but found that she couldn't quite do it.

He wasn't good looking; he was devilishly handsome, with those baby blue eyes and boyish grin. He didn't just have a nice personality; he had everything she had ever found attractive in a man, down to his ridiculous over-the-top confidence.

"You're awake! My goodness Raven, you had me so worried!" Johnny broke through her line of thought. "Don't ever do something like that again!" She couldn't help but smirk slightly at him.

"You sound like my father." He shook his head at her, but smiled at her reply. He was just happy she could move and speak again. Raven seemed to realize this at the same time.

"I can move again!" she sat up quickly in her bed, almost knocking her head against Johnny's. Holding up one arm she shook it. She opened and closed both her hands a few times and clenched them to test their strength.

"Good, maybe you can move yourself into the kitchen then. I'm starving." Johnny frowned slightly. "You do think you can walk, right?"

Ecstatic because she could move freely and that she was out of Teresa's clutches again, she laughed slightly and smiled widely.

"Well, only one way to find out!" She slipped out from under the bedcovers, noticed that she wasn't wearing the uniform, but a pair of pants and a t-shirt, and stood.

Or tried to, anyway.

She wobbled slightly on her legs, let out an 'eep!' and started to fall over, but Johnny caught her.

She held her breath to keep herself from gasping out loud. He was too close for comfort. Well, actually, it was _too_ comfortable. She tried to pry herself out of his grip but he just held on tighter.

"Don't worry, I've gotcha." He half carried half supported her into the kitchen, much to her embarrassment. The last thing she wanted was to look weak to him and make him feel like he had to do everything for her.

But apparently the role of a damsel in distress was a role she did too well.

She had never really realized just how comfortable their couches were. She lay sprawled on the one facing the television. She lay on her side, one hand under her head. Johnny sat on the floor in front of her, his back to the couch and his head resting on the pillows. It was late in the evening and they were watching some crappy reality-show. She was sort of tired and she guess she could've been asleep, if she hadn't been so on edge.

Johnny's head was touching her leg slightly and it sent bolts of lightning through her every time he inhaled or moved a bit. He didn't seem to notice, but she sure did.

She tried to stop focusing on it, but that was impossible. More ever, she didn't dare budge an inch. She liked the feeling too much and if she suddenly moved it, he'd notice that they'd been touching in the first place and he'd probably wonder why she hadn't more before.

So she stayed, rigid as a log, for hours.

By the end of the reality-show, her back was aching terribly, but he hadn't moved.

"Ha!" Johnny laughed and pointed at the tv, "There's a Star Wars marathon in half an hour!" He finally, _finally_, moved away his head. "Let's watch!"

His enthusiasm was infectious. She smiled slightly and nodded. "Sure." She moved her leg away stiffly and he frowned at the movement. She hoped that he didn't notice her stiffness.

"Are you sore?" So he had noticed.. She figured that lying wouldn't help much, so she just grimaced slightly "Yeah.. A bit." She shifted again.

"Where?"

Why was he asking this?

"Erh.. my back."

"and?"

".. my shoulders too." She felt like asking him what he was getting at, but decided against it.

"Okay, get up, I'll give you a massage." _Oh, bugger. Anything but that! _The idea of having Johnny touch her back for a longer period of was both pleasing and terrifying at the same time.

"What?"

"Come on, sit up." He waved his hands at her in a shooing motion and sat up from the floor, placing himself on the couch next to her.

"Go on, turn." He put his hands on her waist and attempted to turn her himself, which made her jump into action. His hands on her waist were a little too much.

She worked really hard to keep the sighs and other sounds of pleasure in as he began massaging her shoulders and upper back. The feeling was unrivalled. After ten minutes of silence, she was ready to explode. It was too awkward, not saying anything. The Star Wars movie hadn't started yet and she really felt like she should fill the silence while they waited.

"Have you ever done this before?" She gritted her teeth slightly when he hit a particularly tender spot on her shoulder blade.

"Sure. I've done it many times." He sounded like he was very concentrated on his work. "Usually ends in sex though."

_Yes, please.._

"Chicks dig this stuff."

At that, she frowned. Did Johnny think of her as 'one of the boys', since he felt so comfortable telling her stuff like this? She hoped not. She couldn't imagine him massaging another man or staying next to another mans bed all night or holding another man close to him while he flew around.

The thought made her want to giggle but made her slightly sick, too. Giggle because Johnny was the least homosexual man she'd ever met and get sick because the idea of Johnny with anyone else, woman or man, upset her.

Finally, when her whole back was on fire from his warm touches, the Star Wars movie started.

At this point they both sat on the floor, Johnny against the couch and Raven in front of him, still working his magic on her.

Another half hour and she was ready to jump his bones. It was torture and bliss at the same time. She constantly had to watch herself, so she didn't start moaning or some other embarrassing thing. The amount of sexual frustration she felt was ridiculous. But that didn't have to mean anything. She'd been locked of for five years. She hadn't had sex in even longer. Practically a virgin. Of course she was going to feel sexual frustration when a guy as good looking as Johnny was..

..Giving her an increasingly arousing massage.

His hands had moved from her shoulders to her back, travelling lower and lower..

Now she really needed to get out of this situation.

But, holy cow, it felt so good; she'd never be able to feel good ever, ever, ever again compared to this. She opened her mouth to tell him that she felt fine again, that her back didn't hurt and he could stop now. As soon as her mouth opened, she closed it again, fearing to let out any sounds that would reveal exactly how much she enjoyed that massage.

She really couldn't tell him to stop. She didn't want him to ever stop.

When another half hour passed and he hadn't stopped, she was starting to grow tired. She had had a long day and given how she had been underfed and locked up for several days, she was really exhausted.

Despite Johnny's magical hands still on her back, she felt her eyelids start to close and her head drop.

"Falling asleep on me?" Johnny asked after a moment. His hands were on her shoulders again and he stilled his massaging.

"Mm-nno." She mumbled a few seconds later than she normally would have.

"Yes you are." He laughed lightly at her. She was slumping and swaying slightly. Then, almost fully asleep, she fell back and leaned onto him. For a moment he froze and didn't know what to do, but then a soft smile grazed his features.

His hands squeezed her shoulders briefly and traveled down her arms before hugging her from behind. For a moment the ridiculous urge to smell her hair was present but then he remembered that she hadn't been near a bath or a bottle of shampoo for days and decided against it. Instead, he brushed some hair out of her face.

He lifted her up carefully and she fell limp against his chest. The soft smile grew into a grin as he carried her to her room.

He put her on her bed gently. She shifted a bit, her arms reaching up and hugging herself. She let out a short moan and turned her head so it faced him.

He stood and watched her for a moment, before reaching out and pulling a blanket over her. She stopped hugging herself and held onto the blanket instead. He chuckled a bit. She was insanely cute when she was asleep.

He reached out and tugged a few strands of hair out her of face, before stroking her cheek once. Then he bend down and, after a moment's hesitation, he placed a kiss on her forehead.

"Sleep tight," he mumbled against her skin before walking out her room again.

He entered the living room again and shut of the TV. He played a bit with a loose thread on the couch in the dark, before heading for his own room.

Once there, he leaned against his door, banging his head against it once. He sighed loudly and rubbed a hand over his face before it found his hair.

"Johnny Storm, you are in deep."

* * *

And the romance moves onwards! Not much further until you all get what you were waiting for.

That was a spoiler.

So, everyone, kindly REVIEW and I might update faster!


	21. The Wine Bottle

I'm late, I know. But trust me, it was worth it!

* * *

Raven was relieved to see that there was no Johnny sleeping in a chair next to her bed, the next morning. She was unsure how she had even gotten there, but figured that he had carried her. For a moment she lay, looking at where Johnny had been the day before. Then her eyes found her alarm clock and she saw it was still quite early. She decided that sleeping in was a very appealing thing to do right now, so she turned around, buried herself deeper in her blankets and waited for sleep to take her once again. While trying to fall asleep again, she found herself thinking about the previous morning.

* * *

After she had woken and had that talk with Johnny, she kicked him out to change. As soon as she left her room, Johnny, Reed and Susan were waiting for her in the kitchen, all looking very serious.

"Where's Ben?" She'd asked, figuring that it was time for a 'talk' about the day before and of her abduction. She had expected all of them to be there.

"With Alicia. She's going traveling soon and he wants to spend a few days with her first." Reed replied, motioning for her to sit. "We need to talk."

"Yeah.." she seated herself by the table, not in the chair he motioned for, but the one next to Johnny. He pushed a bowl of cut apples towards her, his look clearly saying 'Eat willingly or I will force you'. She took one and chewed slowly on it. "I figured you'd want to know what happened."

Three nodding heads. Johnny was unusually serious and quiet. She finished one piece and pushed the bowl away, only for Johnny to push it back, very insistently. Sending him a little glare, he offered her a private smirk, unseen by the others. He mouthed 'eat' and she took another apple.

"So, ask away." She looked back at Reed.

"I'd prefer it if you just told us everything."

She grimaced slightly. Tell them everything? That sounded exhausting. "Well, I was kidnapped by Teresa after Johnny left." Johnny made a pained noise to which she told him "shut up, it wasn't your fault".

She went on to explain how she woke up, how she sang children's tunes for hours (Johnny laughed at that) and then how Teresa performed experiments on her.

Instead of exaggerating or playing tough, she told them exactly how it had felt. "Like I was on fire.. I was unable to move, limp, but every touch, every painful sting, every burning sensation.."

Her story put a damper on the already glum mood around the table. Of course they had guessed parts of what had happened, but she made it sound far worse than they had originally thought it was. The worst thing was they didn't even know _what_ experiments and what they might do.

After a brief silence, in which they took in what she'd told them, Susan spoke up. "We've contacted the police. Teresa is a wanted woman now." She reached across the table and held Raven's hand. "Do you want any professional help? From a doctor?"

Raven considered the idea. But she realized that she was actually fine. She was scared yes, but overall, she didn't think she needed the help.

"No.. No, I'm fine. I just need time."

Reed and Susan wore identical looks of concern, before both pressed their lips together and nodded. They were like two parents.

"Susan and I are leaving soon." This made Raven look up at Reed. "There's a scientifical conference we have to go to. We'll be gone for four days."

"We're sorry to leave you so soon after what happened, but this is really important. Don't worry, Johnny is staying." Susan looked sympathetic.

Alone with Johnny for four days? Why did that scare her and excite her at the same time? For some reason, she didn't dare look at Johnny. She focused on that same spot on the table again instead.

"It's fine. You don't have to worry about me. I'll be fine." She smiled reassuringly at them.

When Reed had said that they'd leave soon, he really meant soon. They only asked once more if she was alright, before gathering their already packed luggage and leaving.

"Alone at last!" Johnny joked once they were out the door. He clapped his hands together as if scheming and then chortled evilly.

Raven was left wondering just how much sugar he'd had for breakfast.

* * *

That was before the whole 'massaging' incident, which she decidedly ignored had ever happened. Despite the fact that her back had never felt as nice and smooth as it was now. He'd probably turned it into butter. It was a secret superpower of his, she bet.

She fell back to sleep, but only for an hour and a half, before a very, _very_ rude wakening.

"WAKE UP!" Johnny roared and slammed the door open loudly. She was positive he knocked the door off its hinges, that's what it sounded like.

"Certainly not." She mumbled and tugged herself deeper under the blankets. Waking up didn't sound very attractive right now.

Johnny caught onto her unwillingness rather quickly. Biting his lip to keep his smile from penetrating, he leapt and jumped onto the bed. He landed with a muffled 'buff' in the soft blankets.

"Uuf!" Raven lost all air in her lungs when one of Johnny's arms connected with her stomach. She gasped for breath for a bit. Johnny laughed loudly and she slapped him on the arm, to distract herself from the fact that his laugh was extremely nice. Such a satisfied and contend, deep belly laugh that shook his whole body.

"Come one, getupgetup!" He started bouncing on the bed, which was very distractive, because it led her thoughts towards other bed activities, which often resulted in the bed bouncing..

_Stop it!_

"Oh, for the love of.. WHY DO I NEED TO GET UP?" She sat up, mostly to stop his bouncing, ignoring her bed head.

"I'm hungry." He dead-panned. She gave him a vicious glare, which he returned with an innocent smile, worthy of a small child.

"I don't see what that's got to do with me." She slid under the covers again and closed her eyes. Three seconds later, she could feel the cold air reach her body and the weight of another person beside her. She opened one eye. Her head skipped a beat pleasantly when Johnny was right next to her. Under her blanket. A few inches too close for comfort. She could feel his unnaturally high body heat so close to her own cold body.

"You have to make it." He informed her. His breath smelled of fire. He sent her his best puppy-eyes.

_Damn him and his blue eyes!_

"Fiiine." She groaned. He jumped up again, practically beaming.

She stared at him for a moment, wonder on her face. "How is it that you can be so hyper, without having eaten breakfast yet?"

He just smiled wider. "Scratch that.. How can you be so hyper at all?"

"Oh, I'm just happy I get to hang out for three whole days, all alone, with my best friend!"

_Great, best friend zoned.._

"Best friend or personal cook?"

"Both." He ducked to avoid the pillow she threw at him.

* * *

Raven was pretty sure she was a bit drunk. After preparing, and eating, breakfast, Johnny and she had spent the whole day in the city, walking around aimlessly, having a good time. They ate dinner at a bar, where Johnny often went. It was a cozy little place, if a little shabby.

He explained that he had been at this bar with Ben when they both thought earth was going to get eaten by a giant space cloud.

"We talked.. And I realized some stuff."

He was very vague, avoiding any straight answers, only saying that it made him re-think his life a bit. "This place holds sentimental value to me." He'd said.

Now, they were back in the apartment, propped, once again, in front of the television. Johnny had looked through Susan and Reed's stash and found an expensive wine, which they were now taking care of.

They were playing some form of home-invented poker game, which Raven wasn't sure her alcohol induced mind properly understood, but was a lot of fun anyway.

Judging by his behavior, Johnny wasn't entirely there either. The bottle of wine was almost empty. She giggled a bit at the thought of them drinking a whole bottle, just by themselves.

"I swear that was a legitimate move!" Johnny was clearly cheating and she'd caught him in the act. He'd spent the last five minutes trying to convince her that he wasn't.

"Johnny, we're supposed to be playing by the proper rules, not the ones you invented! That's not fair."

He poured them both another glass, the bottle now empty. "Cheers!"They clinked their glasses together merrily.

"Johnny, are you trying to get me drunk? Trying to take advantage of a poor defenseless girl?" She laughed again, finding everything funny at that moment. The alcohol had loosened her up and moved her boundaries and she found herself saying things she normally wouldn't.

"You're already pretty out there, sweetheart. I won't have to get you drunk!"

"So you admit it then?"

He joined her laughter.

"Raven sweetheart, I don't want to take advantage of you! That'd totally ruin our friendship."

_But I'd totally want you to take advantage of me, _she thought. Her smile fell slightly. Always friends, never more than that.

She was suddenly not in such a good mood anymore. The alcohol hadn't only made her giggling and happy, it had also made her hyper-aware of Johnny. Every move, every facial expression.. It was ruining her already frail nerves, gnawing away at her control. More than once, she'd caught herself almost kissing him.

She put down the cards, not in the mood to play anymore.

"What're you doing? Not done!" He sounded a bit whiny that she'd suddenly stopped their game.

"I don't wanna play anymore." She pouted.

"Whyyyy?" This time it was a full-blown whine. She shrugged her shoulders. "Dunno. Not in the mood."

A mischievous look crossed his face. "I'll just have to force you then." He wriggled his eyebrows at her.

"Not if you can't catch me first!" She jumped up, splashing a distracting gush of water at his face, to give her a few more seconds to run.

"I'll get you for that!" He jumped up too, both laughing loudly. She could barely run, she was laughing so hard.

They were behaving like children. And she loved every second of it.

They chased around for a long time, Raven squealing, Johnny roaring with laughter.

The apartment was kind of trashed. They upturned chairs, pushed around with the sofa pillows, Raven succeeded in getting water all over the place, Johnny scorched a wall so badly it turned black in one spot.. They were behaving like children.

In the end, after they were both panting with the effort, Johnny managed to corner her. He got hold of both her arms and held them above her head, effectively keeping her in place. Her back was against a wall and she was completely trapped between it and Johnny. He was incredibly close and once again, she was very aware of everything _him_.

His body wasn't touching hers, but she could feel his body heat. Her wrists burned from his touch. Suddenly, she did not feel so drunk anymore. Suddenly, she was very serious.

Something had changed in him too, because the smile had faded from his face, replaced by an intense look she couldn't place. She knew that she mirrored his appearance. Her lips were slightly parted from her panting, as was his. Such beautiful, full lips. She really wanted to kiss him. She could feel his labored breath on her face and it sent shivers up and down her spine.

One of his hands let go of her wrists, his other still holding onto them, keeping her arms away. His hand traveled down until it came to rest on her cheek. It stroked her cheekbone slightly and she wanted to close her eyes form the sensation. But she was scared to look away from his eyes, scared to break the spell.

His other hand let go and it was placed on the wall next to her head. Her heart was pumping so loudly in her ears, she couldn't hear anything else. Her arms came down too, to rest on his chest. She shivered at the feel of muscle under her hands.

Johnny let out a shuddering breath, and then leaned closer.

He broke eye-contact with her, for a short second, to look at her lips. Then they met hers again and she was struck with how deep they were. He looked pleadingly at her, as if asking for permission. She poured as much encouragement as she could into her look, leaning just a fraction more into his body.

He moved closer still and then their lips connected.

White hot passion licked at her very core. The kiss wasn't sweet or hesitant or polite. As soon as they connected, both became like wild animals. His body collided with hers roughly, pushing her against the wall. She held onto his shirt and pulled him even closer to her, wanting him in her personal space as much as possible. Every single one of her senses was taking him in, breathing him in, as he greedily claimed her mouth over and over.

It was even better than the massage, it was better than anything she had ever dreamed of.

His hands were everywhere and she wasn't ashamed to admit that so were hers. Vapor erupted everywhere, the steaming of their skin mirroring the steaming of their passion.

She felt her dams break, allowing all her pent up sexual frustration, all her passion, all her buried feelings to go lose.

He picked her up, wrapping her arms around his shoulders as his held onto her thighs and waist. Never taking his mouth from hers, he stumbled out of the living room. He accidentally slammed her into the door which led to his room, where they had another heated make out session, before he opened the door and led them into his room.

Soon, the room was filled with steam, to the point where one could see anything and they were both drenched.

Maybe it was the alcohol talking, perhaps just plain lust, but maybe_, maybe_, it was something more. But it didn't matter. Because that night, _that night_, fire and water found each other.

* * *

Dadaaa!

I finally did it! I hope it was to your satisfaction.

Anyway, sorry this was so late. I've had a busy week and I've been focusing all my writing time on a new story I'm working in.

It's a Superman/OC story and I'm really proud of it, so far. It's basically just a story of what would happen if some girl found out about his secret and they became friends, then something more. It's very different from anything I've ever written before. In my own opinion, it's better than this story, so far.

If you'd be interested in checking it out, tell me in a review and I'll send you the prologue. I'd really like some feedback on it.

Anyway, thank you for reading and leave a REVIEW to tell me what you think!


	22. The Aftermath

I'm not late! Well, here it is guys, the aftermath of their little sex-escapade. Enjoy!

* * *

It was still quite early when Johnny woke, finding himself completely entwined with Raven. His arms were firmly around her, hers resting on his chest, their legs practically braided together. Her face was buried in his chest, his chin just barely touching the top of her head. For a moment he lay still, not knowing what to do. Then he tried to move, but stopped, suddenly incredibly aware of the fact that they were both very, _very_ naked.

Stupidly enough, he hadn't thought about that before. Now he couldn't focus on anything but the feel of naked skin against naked skin and he was terribly aroused again.

_Sheesh, can't even be alone for two days together without losing total control. _Because he had certainly lost control. He didn't know how long these feelings of want for Raven had started forming in him, only that when they made themselves known, it took him a lot of willpower to hold them back. Sure, Raven wasn't the usual girl he'd consider sleeping with, but something in him told him that this was the right thing to do. And he'd have to admit that waking up with her in his arms, instead of some conquest of the night, had felt.. right. Like it was supposed to be like that.

After looking down at Raven's peaceful face, he decided to get up. He needed a shower. He slowly de-tangled himself from Raven, trying his best not to wake her. In the process, the blanket slipped down a little too much and he found himself creepily staring at her. He found himself blushing.

He quickly looked away and pulled up the blanket, mortified by the fact that he was behaving like a silly teenager who'd just had his first time.

He couldn't be bothered with clothes, since he was only going to the bathroom and the only other person in the apartment had already seen every single inch of him, so he just grabbed a towel and strolled out.

As he stepped into the shower, he considered what he'd just done. He had slept with his best friend. He allowed himself to lose control, let himself be driven by lust and as a result he might have destroyed a relationship he valued greatly. Surprisingly, he wasn't panicked. He felt like a certain calm had settled over him, like he was at peace with himself for once.

A small smile settled on his face when he realized that this was the first time he'd slept with someone who didn't look like a model. Raven was incredibly skinny from her terrible eating habits and she still had a sickly tint to her skin. Her body built wasn't perfect; in fact she was far too slender compared to what he usually went for.

And while the sex wasn't the best he'd ever had, he had still enjoyed it more than he ever had with anyone else. He had been freer while having sex than he'd had in five years because he didn't have to watch his own body heat. Whenever he slept with anyone, he always had to be careful so his body heat didn't suddenly grow and then hurt the woman he slept with. He'd tried it once and he didn't feel like repeating that incident. For some reason, he couldn't quite control his powers, when he slept with someone. But he didn't have that problem with Raven, because she could be near him no matter how hot he got and it as liberating.

He remembered that it had been Raven's first time in six years and he was suddenly worried that he'd been too selfish or if he had hurt her.

He quickly dismissed the thought. Even though Johnny was considered a playboy, he always took pride in being a generous lover and to put his companions' needs before his own. Besides, they had booth been pretty needy and rough. Looking down on his body, he was pretty sure there was the faint outline of a bite mark on his left shoulder. Yes, last night had been memorable. Especially because it had been with Raven. But it was a bit scary too: For perhaps the first time, he knew the person he had slept with. He knew of their background, he was _involved_ with their lives. And that was probably what made the night so special for him. He knew the person, knew how damaged she was. He realized that he hadn't wanted to sleep with her because of her looks, but because of _who she was_. Because of the personality behind the body. Because she was Raven. She was Raven.

Smart, funny, sassy, and temperamental Raven. He wanted to say _his_ Raven, but stopped himself: He was getting ahead of himself. They had shared one night. It didn't have to mean anything, he didn't even know if she felt anything for him or if it was all physical for her. They had succeeded in drinking themselves stupid in wine and perhaps that night had been the result.

Wait, so the whole thing had just been the result of alcohol? Had the passion? The attraction? The warm fuzzy feeling he felt in his stomach?

That couldn't just have been the alcohol speaking.

Only half a year ago, he might've wanted it to be the product of the alcohol. He would've been terrified of the thought of having feelings for anyone. Johnny Storm didn't _date_, he had flirts, which he liked to bang, and that was it. He shied away from the concept of relationships like a vampire would the sun. Half a year ago he was incapable of having feelings that went beyond attraction for a woman's body. But now he couldn't deny that he had grown certain feelings which went beyond the feelings of attraction he'd usually get.

And it scared him. It made him happy a light, but it still scared him a lot. Because he knew that he wouldn't be good for her. Knew that he would probably end up hurting her. He knew that he would be a horrible boyfriend, a selfish and stupid boyfriend.

And, worst of all, he knew that he didn't deserve her. She needed someone who could rebuild her, someone solid and stable who could help her sort out her life and her destroyed, traumatized mind. She acted like she was fine most of the time, and she probably was, but he also knew that once she was alone, her thoughts turned to darker places. Sometimes, she just needed a small push for the anger and hurt to re-surface and take over her body and mind, and he couldn't help her in those moments. She needed someone who could be there for her all the time, someone who could selflessly care for her constantly, with patience and love.

And that just couldn't be him. He closed his eyes and leaned against the bathroom wall, allowing the water to wash over him in a constant flow, wishing that it would magically lend him the power to take back his own actions.

When she woke up, Raven felt fuzzy and warm and comfortable and simply wonderful. Looking around, she realized that she wasn't in her own room, but Johnny's. With a satisfied smile, she thought about the night before and how wonderful and beautiful and _loved_ he had made her feel. How patient and selfless he'd been. Sleeping with Johnny Storm was one of the best decisions she'd ever made in her life. Stretching with a satisfied sigh, she arched her back like a cat, moaning in pleasure when it gave a satisfying crack. She turned around and found the bed empty. She sat up on her elbows and looked around for him.

The sound of the shower running in the bathroom informed her of his whereabouts. Wrapping the blanket firmly around herself, she sat up in the bed. She needed a shower too, so all she could do was wait for him to be done. The whole room smelled of sex and it made her smirk again. Susan would have a totally hissy-fit if she knew what they'd done.

The bed was still warm where he'd lain, so he couldn't have been gone for long. She leaned her head against the wall, her back on the propped up pillow. The smirk on her face turned into a smile and the smile grew, when she thought of what she had done. She had slept with Johnny Storm. She had slept with her best friend. And, oh my god, it had been glorious. It was a performance she wouldn't mind repeating. But.. He was Johnny Storm. Had he slept with her because he felt like having a one night stand? As much as Raven tried to ignore it, he was a playboy. Had it meant as much to him as it had to her?

She heard the bathroom door open and her heart skipped a beat, and then started to beat faster.

He stepped into the bedroom, only in a towel and dripping wet and, oh so _sexy_. Their eyes locked immediately, despite Raven's first instinct to roam her gaze all over his body.

They just sort of stared at each other for a moment and Raven located a look of regret in Johnny's eyes. Her whole world seemed to come crashing down around her: He wasn't interested in her at all. She almost felt like crying, but stopped herself. She had been a captive for five years, endured torture and malnourishment; survive despite being locked up in the same room, without a single patch of sunlight. She could deal with a little heartbreak!

She had redirected her gaze to the blankets on the bed, but now she looked at him again, sad smile on her face. "I suppose this is where you smoothly kick me out like all the others?"

It was obvious in Johnny's eyes that he knew she'd gotten the wrong idea, and she felt a bit of relief.

"No!" He stepped forward, "Raven, that.. That wasn't just a one night stand. I meant it."

Her whole body spread with warmth and the sad smile turned a fraction less sad.

He sat down on the bed, heaving a sigh. Seldom had Raven seen him so serious as now. His brow was furrowed and he stared hard into the wall. "I.. I have _feelings_ for you." He admitted. He looked down on the floor, then up at her. She was frozen in spot, shocked at what he had just said. He had feelings for her. She had feelings for him. Not just feelings: She loved him.

"But I don't think I'm right for you." Was Johnny Storm giving her the 'I'm not worthy' speech? He looked away again after sending her a pleading look. She didn't know what it meant. It could mean anything from 'Please prove me wrong' to 'Don't make this any harder'. She decided to go with the first one.

She sat up on her knees, ignored that the blanket almost slipped off of her and hugged him around his shoulders from behind. He was still so warm. She could feel his shoulders stiffen. It occurred to her that she'd never seen him this vulnerable before and that he was at her mercy. She could make or break him.

"Why don't you think you're good for me?" She whispered.

A hand went up and rubbed his face before running through his hair and Raven watched the way his muscles moved.

"I- You need someone who can take proper care of you and help you get over the trauma of what happened. I'm.. not that guy. I'm the guy that left you on a roof because I got mad." His hands clenched into fists.

"Johnny, are you still worried about that? Honestly! I forgave you!" she let go of his shoulders and, wrapping the blanket around herself again, she stood up and went around the bed, kneeling in front of him. "You're the guy that helped me break through the wall of insanity. You're the guy that saved me after Teresa had re-captured me. You're the guy that took care of me from the start, how unwilling you might've been."

He didn't look at her, instead frowning at a spot to his left. Her hand reached out to his cheek and his eyes shot to hers, baby blue on cloudy grey. "I owe you my life." She said it with as much force as she could, without raising her voice. "Remember that day where I tried to jump off the balcony? You stopped me. You saved me from myself."

His face was blank and he didn't move from his spot. Feeling bold, Raven stood from her kneeling, her face close to his. She stood entirely and bent slightly so her face was still only an inch from his. Then she closed the gap in a sweet kiss. After a moment's hesitation, Johnny responded, his hand coming up to her cheek. His other arm wrapped around her waist and he forced her gently into his lap. She wrapped both arms around his neck and shoulders, savoring the glorious feeling of his lips on hers.

* * *

The last chapter didn't get as many reviews as I had hoped it would, so please be nice to a poor author and REVIEW this one!


	23. The News

I'm only a bit late.

This hasn't been proof-read, but I'm in a hurry, so you'll have to forgive me any spelling/grammatical mistakes

* * *

Raven hadn't really thought through the consequences of actually engaging in a relationship with Johnny. At the time it had felt so right and simple, so neither had really thought much about it.

And now they were in a relationship. Two days had passed since that fateful night and Reed and Sue were going to come home the same night.

To be honest, they were both a bit nervous about telling Reed and Sue. The prospect of a relationship between the two posed several problems.

First of all, Reed and Sue never approved of Johnny's dating habits, and they'd start acting like crazy overprotective parents, once they found out. Secondly, what if it didn't work and they broke up? The level of awkward would be too much to handle.

Johnny had never been in a proper relationship with any girl before, he admitted to her after half a day. He had only had flirts, fuck-buddies and short flings. And now that he was in a proper relationship, he had absolutely no idea how he should be acting. He didn't need to sue any charm, he already had the girl, and he constantly felt like he had to be the perfect gentleman. He was more nervous than she'd seen him before. More awkward and clueless and it was utterly adorable and flattering.

She couldn't help but find it amusing that Johnny Storm, notorious charmer and ladies-man, didn't know how to act around a woman.

She wasn't afraid that it would get annoying, she figured that he'd calm down and settle into a routine soon enough. If he never had tried a proper relationship before, it was easy to understand why he was acting like a fifteen year old on the particular area: he simply hadn't moved further in developing that particular skill-set than a little teenage boy had.

But of course Johnny wasn't the only problem. She was still a damaged soul and the idea of binding herself to another person was still scary to her. It hadn't been that long ago since she lost the man she'd thought she would spend the rest of her life with too, and that was a heartache that would take some time to mend.

Dating someone like Johnny also brought up some insecurity. While he was easily a ten, Raven knew that she was lucky to reach a six or seven. Johnny was devastatingly good looking and she was freakishly thin and pale with a sick tint to her skin-tone.

Not that she wasn't working on that. She was eating properly, didn't skip meals, and stayed outside for as long as she could, so get rid of the sick look. She worked hard to rebuild the muscle she had lost from all those years of doing nothing. It was helping a lot and she could almost see a day-to-day change. Still, she couldn't ignore that she was very inferior in looks, compared to him. But it didn't have to matter. There was nothing wrong with having a good looking boyfriend, and she had seen the looks of adoration he would send her way, so she knew that he didn't think she was ugly.

It was actually really cute. A couple of times, she'd caught him looking at her with such a loving look, like she was incredibly valuable and precious to him. And he never seemed to be able to keep his hands off of her. He didn't try to force her into anything, but he often liked to just hold her hand or have her sit in his lap, if they were watching a movie.

Her hair was fascinating too. He liked playing with that. And she'd lost count of how many times they'd kissed in the last two days.

She felt incredibly blessed. She felt, for the first time in almost six years, that she was on her way to a good life, that things where finally looking brighter.

Perhaps it was too optimistic a thought, but she couldn't argue with her stomach feeling. And her stomach was telling her that this was one of the best choices she'd ever made.

To her utter surprise, Johnny was actually quite romantic. He seemed to always be on his toes to make sure that she was happy or get her anything she needed. It was incredibly over the top and she knew it was just a phase until they got used to their mutual feelings. It was natural for him to act the way he did: his instincts told him that he needed to do anything he could to 'reel her in'. It was totally unnecessary, though, but instincts are hard to compete against. She'd deal with his strange ideas for now; it was really quite amusing.

They decided that breaking the news to Susan and Reed would be the best idea. That's why, the morning of the day they would get back, Raven insisted on going grocery shopping. She explained that people received news like this better on a full stomach, so she and Johnny should prepare a nice dinner for when they got home in the evening.

They had gone, and Raven, with Johnny trailing behind, had bought, for his money, everything they would need.

Once they got home, she prepared the meat early, because it needed several hours in the oven, and then went to take a shower. She wanted to look presentable too. If Reed and Susan were to approve of her and Johnny's relationship, she needed to look healthy and happy. A task she would easier succeed if she looked like she had taken some time to make herself look better.

Every female knew that the first signs of a healthy woman were if she visibly took well care of herself and prided herself in looking her best.

Johnny sat in his room and waited for Raven to finish so he could take a shower too. He lay on his bed, his mind very distracted by the image of Raven, naked and dripping wet in the shower.

He groaned to himself and rubbed a hand over his face. He had been constantly horny since the night were they had sex: he hadn't slept with a woman for a very long time, at least by Johnny standards, so his body was demanding sex right now, because there was an available and willing woman near.

He strained his ears when he heard her humming to herself and it only served to ruin his already frazzled nerves. He knew that the bathroom door wasn't locked; he'd been standing outside the door when she went in there.

It was a bit flattering that she already trusted him enough to neglect locking the doors when she was in the shower.. naked.. Her hands rubbing shampoo on her body..

_Stop it!_

He shot up in bed and looked at the bathroom door, which he could see from across his own room.

She was still humming.

_God damn.._

He stood after letting out a sound of frustration and defeat, swiftly walking out his room, heading for the tempting siren on the other side of the bathroom door.

He flung open the door, Raven jumping in surprise at the sound. When she looked at him, she was surprised by the dark look in his eyes. She could see a great deal of passion, sexual frustration and want in his gaze and it made her shudder all over, with pleasure. He looked almost angry, his eyebrows furrowed slightly and his eyes narrow and smoldering.

He kicked the bathroom door shut with his heel, still just staring at her from his position at the door.

His eyes never left hers, like she would've expected them to, never traveled down her body. He seemed to stare into her soul.

Abruptly, he stalked forward, his hands coming up to capture her face just as his lips took hers.

She let out a moan which did terrible things to his resolve. His hands were suddenly everywhere while hers were helping him loose his shirt.

The room filled with steam, whether from their connected bodies or the water his high temperature body evaporated, he didn't know. Perhaps both.

He decided to lose his clothes before he burned them off.

* * *

The water still poured down on them as they sat together in the bathtub. Johnny's arm was around her securely, her head resting on his shoulder.

"So, what was that for?" They were both a bit out of breath.

He couldn't help but chuckle slightly as he leaned his head back against the wall, shutting his eyes peacefully. "I just needed to remind myself that I could do that."

He could feel her smile against his shoulder and it made him want to engage in a rematch right away.

"Now I'm all gross again. I actually came in here to clean myself to look nice." She accused, though her tone was light.

"It's your own fault. If you'd stop being so irresistible and sexually frustrating, I wouldn't have done it." He mumbled, still leaning against the wall.

"Nice, Romeo." Was her dry reply. "I need to take a shower now."

He stood up and offered her a hand, pulling her up next to him. "How about I help?" he purred into her ear, pleased to see the Goosebumps which formed on her flesh.

"I'd like that."

* * *

"Welcome home!" Raven and Johnny beamed at the couple coming through the door. Susan and Reed smiled happily at the two.

"It's good to be back." Sue looked rather tired. "This place smells amazing!"

And indeed it did. Together, Johnny and Raven had managed to create a wonderful meal of potatoes and pork. Johnny had gotten an injured finger from cutting the potatoes, but he had sucked it up nicely. Probably because he didn't want to act like a whiner while Raven was there.

Dinner ran smoothly. Susan and Reed – especially Reed – told them enthusiastically about their trip, seemingly leaving nothing out.

After everyone was done and Reed and Susan had had enough wine to be appropriately calm and influenced by the alcohol, Johnny and Raven were about to tell them, when Reed suddenly had an announcement of his own.

"Me and Sue has something we'd like to tell you." Susan smiled at him and he at her. Raven and Johnny shared a look that said 'later' before turning back to the expectant faces of the two older adults.

"Go on?"

Apparently Susan decided that being as straight forward as possible was the best plan, because Reed had barely opened his mouth before she burst out, "I'm pregnant!" a huge smile split hers and Reed's faces in two.

Johnny and Raven both lost their jaws, Raven being the first to recover. "That's great! Congratulations!"

Johnny took a little longer to pull himself together, after he got over the fact that his sister had had sex, he considered out the pros and the cons. Of course he was happy for the couple, but he was _not_ changing any diapers. Nope, wouldn't do it.

After a minute of Raven congratulating and Johnny staring, they all turned to him. He couldn't think of what to say, so he just continued to look at his sister, mouth still halfway open. He was going to be a freaking uncle! 'Uncle Johnny'.. It made him sound old!

A firm kick to his leg, courtesy of Raven, brought him out of his shock.

"Wow, you guys.." He cleared his throat, forced out a fake smile and fiddled with his fingers, wincing when he noticed Susan and Reeds expectant faces. He thought about the situation. Why was he worried? It wasn't like _he_ was going to be a father. A child would make Susan and Reed incredibly happy, he knew that. And if they got a child, he would finally get an answer to something he'd been wondering for some time: Would any of the Fantastic Four's potential kids have superpowers? "That's fantastic!" his smile was genuine now.

A shared look with Raven, and they both decided to wait with telling Susan and Reed for a while: Tonight, and the next few days, would be about the married couple.

Johnny couldn't remember when he last had chosen to let someone else take the lime-light from him. It was an oddly refreshing experience, something he wouldn't mind doing again.

He supposed Raven was affecting him more than he'd thought. And he was simply maturing. He felt good with himself at the thought.

* * *

Not a lot happened, but I did bring some news at the end!

Now, as usual, please leave a REVIEW to let me know what you think!


	24. The Talk

I'm a bit late, I know, but I have reasons, which will be explained after the chapter.

* * *

The news of Susan's pregnancy was apparently so exciting that the couple stayed up and talked about it 'til late into the night. Susan talked about names, while Reed told Johnny all about what the child's room was going to look like.

It didn't take Johnny and Raven very long to decide to split up with Raven talking to Susan and Johnny talking to Reed. Both Raven and Johnny were exhausted by the time Reed and Susan decided to call it a night. They had been cleaning for the better part of the morning, shopped during the afternoon and then prepared dinner.

And they hadn't gotten that much sleep the previous night, because of certain activities.

When Susana and Reed went to bed, Raven, assisted by Johnny, quickly cleaned the kitchen.

Afterwards, she shuffled to her room. Johnny stood in her door and watched while she undressed, donned an oversized t-shirt – which he noticed was his- and brushed through her hair before pulling it into a ponytail.

"So, how do you feel?" She didn't feel the need to elaborate; he already knew that she was talking about Susan's pregnancy.

He made a grimace, "old," she let out a short laugh, which made him smile. He sighed a bit and moved to sit on the bed. After a moment he could feel the weight of Raven settling behind him and then her hands on his shoulders as she gently massaged him, loosening the knots he had developed over the course of the night.

"How do you really feel?" she whispered in his ear before placing a gently kiss on his jaw. Ignoring the goose-bumps that settled on his arms, he leaned back and enjoyed the works he was doing on his shoulders.

"I don't know.. It's just.. It's always been me and Susan, since my mother died. Then Susan got married and that was cool, of course. I was glad to see her so happy, but I still felt a bit abandoned. And now she's going to have even less time for me."

Raven stopped massaging him, instead leaning in a hugging him around the shoulders. Her head settled on his left shoulder and he could feel her nod at what he'd said. His hand reached up and held onto one of her arms, stroking it as they fell into a comfortable silence.

"Plus, this means that if not both, then at least Susan is going to stop working as part of the Fantastic Four." That was one thing that worried Johnny. What if something big happened again and they couldn't overcome it, because of Sue's absence? And if Reed stopped too, Johnny didn't know what they were supposed to do.

"Me and Ben can't save the world alone. Reed and Susan are important. We've always been a team.."

"Maybe.." he could feel Raven hesitating for a moment. "Maybe I could help you instead." Raven sighed as she felt Johnny's shoulders tense under her hold.

"No. absolutely not."

"Why not?"

She let go when he stood up. Walked a few steps before turning around, looking at her with an expression she couldn't and wouldn't place.

"Because. This-" he swiftly turned to the door and looked out into the hall, before closing it shut. "Because this is dangerous business!" he hissed lowly at her.

She frowned. "Johnny, we've been in a relationship for three days and you're already getting overprotective over me?" she didn't bother to whisper as he had, knowing that Reed and Sue were fast asleep.

"Yes!" he didn't even try to hide it. "Raven, right now you are the most important thing in my life and as long as there's a vengeful spy after you, you're not prancing around town!"

"Johnny, you most certainly do not get to decide that!" Raven sighed exasperated at the look he was giving her. "If I can do anything to save lives with my powers, it's my duty to do so." She rolled her eyes. "Don't you feel like it's your responsibility?" he squared his jaw and looked pointedly away from her.

"Johnny, I can take care of myself. I've helped you guys before!"

He stopped his pacing and turned to her, lightning in his eyes and she immediately knew that she'd said the wrong thing.

"Yes, and we all know how that turned out. You almost killed yourself!" She noted that his clothes were smoking a bit.

"Yes, but-"

"No! The first time you went out use your powers you almost died because of your own recklessness. And that fire wasn't coincidental! Teresa started that fire to get you out in the open and as long as she's still out there, you need to take be on constant watch."

Raven decided to just let him let out some steam. And he was on a roll.

"Your powers are dangerous to yourself, Raven. Just like Susan, they can pose a threat towards you, if you use them, too much." She decided to ask him about what Susan's powers did to her later.

He appeared to be done, because he flopped down on the bed, his hands pinching the bridge of his nose as he let out a frustrated sigh. His eyes were closed.

She reached out and removed the hand from his face, taking it in hers.

"Johnny.. You've been doing this for years. You haven't been hurt yet. I won't die. I can take care of myself." That was clearly also the wrong thing to say, because his whole body stiffened before he snatched his hand from hers and jumped up from the bed.

"I watched my sister die!" his voice was raised but he wasn't shouting. Yet, it was incredibly forceful. "I sat there and saw the woman I cared about most in my life die. I can still remember it so vividly, remember the light leaving her eyes. I-I remember the helplessness. I couldn't do anything but watch and bitterly wish that I could take her place." Raven was stunned into silence. He was barely speaking above a whisper now and the amount of hurt in his voice was frightening her.

"I promised myself that I would never let anything like that happen to anyone close to me again." He slid down the wall and sat against it. "You know what was even more heartbreaking? Watching the look on Reed's face. He looked so heartbroken, so.." he cleared his throat. "He knew he'd just lost his chance at sharing the life with Susan he had wanted. He knew that he was going to be alone for the rest of his life."

"I promised myself that day, that I would never, if I ever found someone, let them die in my arms, or let myself die in theirs."

Raven sat down next to him in silence. She took his hand again. All anger had left her system, when she realized why he was so protective. "Johnny, your sister isn't dead." She felt his hand clench. She reached up to hold his cheek and tipped his head in her direction.

"Everything turned out alright. Nothing happened that day and nothing is going to happen. I'm not reckless." She quirked up on side of her mouth and tipped her head slightly, "At least not as reckless as you. I want to help; it would kill me if I didn't. Yes I am scared, yes I know it's a huge responsibility, but I think I can handle it. I want to try, at least."

Johnny closed his eyes and leaned his head against the wall with a dull 'thud'. He smiled a bit and chuckled once before squinting at her.

"You're going to be doing this whether I permit it or not, aren't you?"

One eyebrow arched, "Well, you don't exactly have the power to stop me, so yeah."

He shook his head, his hand gripping tighter onto hers.

"I love you." He said suddenly. Raven felt her entire body go cold and her heart stopped beating for several seconds. He directed his gaze at her. She would've expected him to be nervous over the slightly panicked look on her face, but he looked calm, if a bit accepting. He was simply stating a fact, she realized. He wasn't afraid that she would get freaked out or say that she didn't return those feelings: he was simply stating a fact, a fact he didn't want to hide or deny or run from.

She knew that coming from Johnny, that statement had meant a lot. He wasn't going to do something as binding as admitting love for someone else, if he didn't truly mean it.

Raven herself knew that she loved him, without a doubt. She had known since he saved her from her prison several days ago.

Once that was clarified, a soft smile grazed her features. "I guess I love you too, silly boy."

Despite the stoic and secure look he'd been sporting, Raven could sense the slightest flash of relief in his eyes.

He leaned over and kissed her sweetly and then settled against the wall again.

After a moment he said, in a measured voice,

"I really want to have sex with you right now, but Susan and Reed will hear and I'm too tired."

Raven couldn't help but giggle at his openness.

"Well, they won't hear us cuddle?" She suggested.

"Sounds like an invitation I'd like to accept." Johnny stood up and dragged her with him, to her bed. With his arms still around her, he turned so they stood with their sides to the bed and then collapsed down on it.

"Johnny, you're still in your clothes." Raven pointed out once they'd settled under the comforter.

"Always eager to get me naked, aren't you?" he teased.

"I'll admit you're not bad to look at, but I was mostly thinking about your own comfort. Sleeping in jeans is uncomfortable."

Nodding in agreement, Johnny slipped off the clothing he could spare, leaving himself in his boxes and a white undershirt.

Raven turned around in his arms and pressed herself into his gorgeous body, her head nuzzling his shoulder. She felt his arms twitch slightly, bringing her even closer to him. Even through their clothes, she could feel how bony she was compared to him. But she didn't feel the need to be embarrassed or apologize to him for not being the same standard as he was, because she knew that he accepted her fully.

She placed a small kiss on his shoulder blade and brought up her hands to rest on his chest, enjoying the feeling of his muscles underneath them.

"Easy tiger." He murmured with humor at the gesture. Both were already halfway asleep, from exhaustion.

"Rawr." She jokingly muttered and then they both fell asleep.

* * *

This is insultingly short, but I've been busy during my break and I have been taking a short pause from writing, to enjoy christmas.  
The end is upon us, guys. There's not much left of this story.

So how about you all act like nice and appreciative readers and leave the author a nice REVIEW to tell her how much you've enjoyed the story? Even if it's not that much you've enjoyed it. I really would just like some feedback on it.


	25. The Power of a Broken Mind

I think this is in the top three of longest chapters on this story. It's also by far the most dramatic.

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It was no secret that Susan Richards liked to be on top of things, to know everything that was going on. It gave her a sort of cool comfort when she had everything under control. She liked information, she liked to know. Especially in her own household

Especially, _especially_, when that something she would like to know was why her brother was currently sharing a bed with Raven.

With his arms around her.

Both scantily clothed.

She just couldn't leave those two alone for more than four days, could she?

Judging by their current position, it didn't take a genius like Susan to figure out that _something_ had happened while she and Reed were away.

And it didn't take a genius either to figure out what that something was. So apparently, her brother and the woman were either currently in a relationship or- something which seemed much more Johnny like to Susan- friends with benefits.

She really hoped for both their sakes that it wasn't the latter.

But judging by the way she was snuggled up to him and the way he, rather protectively, had his arms wrapped firmly around her, she thought it looked most like the first option.

Happiness welled in her for a moment: Johnny and Raven were such good friends, a relationship between them could only be positive. Perhaps Johnny would finally settle down.

Then she felt a bit annoyed with herself for not seeing the signs. She felt like she should have realized it sooner. She was usually pretty good at picking up on other people's feelings, so she should have noticed some form of attraction between them. A hint of flirting, a longing look, perhaps. But thinking back she couldn't remember any of those things; at least not any that made her sense any romance forming.

Unless..

Unless they only just became aware of their feelings themselves.

Which was very likely, because she knew both of them well enough to know that they weren't always particularly good with feelings.

Susan stood at the foot of the bed and contemplated waking the two up and asking what the heck was going on.

She decided that it probably wasn't the best moment to do so. She had morning sickness and was feeling more than cranky, and she didn't want to snap at them.

She'd rather not give them the wrong idea. If they were really in a relationship, she needed them to know that she fully supported it.

However, there were several questions she'd like to ask. Like why they hadn't said anything at all. Did they want to keep in a secret? Perhaps they actually were afraid that Susan would disapprove, so they decided to keep it a secret for now.

On that note she left the bedroom, probably to go puke in the bathroom.

A few moments after she had left Johnny woke up. His left arm was asleep and stiff, having been under Raven all night. Not that she weighed a lot, but it was still enough to partly cut off his blood circulation.

He didn't want to move it though, because it would wake her. He flexed his hand a few times to get feeling back into it and then relaxed his arm. He stared at the ceiling to distract himself from the pins and needles.

Some minutes later, Raven shifted and rolled off his arm. It hurt when the blood flowed back into his veins, but he did his best to ignore that also. She sighed in her sleep and then her eyes fluttered open.

She turned and gave him a tired smile, which he returned.

"You're wearing my shirt." He commented.

"It used to smell good." She said in defense. She sat up in the bed and crossed her legs. "I like sleeping in big t-shirts. I did that all the time with A-" She cut herself off. They shared a look and she smiled a bit sadly, shrugging one shoulder. "Adrian. I did that all the time with Adrian."

Johnny reached out and entwined his fingers with hers, nodding in understanding. "Do you miss him?" he asked after a while. Only then did he meet her eyes. He figured that Adrian shouldn't be something they didn't talk about. He wanted her to be completely honest with him in everything, just like he would like to be with her.

"Not as much as I used to." She shrugged a shoulder again. "I sometimes feel bad for replacing him."

"But then I remember that you're not a replacement at all, you're so incredibly different from him that you could never replace him, but you take up a new and more important spot in my life."

He brought their entwined hands up and kissed hers, smiling dashingly at her. "Yes, I am unique."

"Yes.. Unique, special.. Odd.."

"I'm not _odd!"_ he replied indignantly.

"You are too! Who doesn't know how to make waffles?"

They shared a short bout of laughter.

"Now get out flame boy, I need to get dressed," She looked at his appearance, "and so do you."

Johnny got up and saluted her, before leaving the room.

He barely made it out of the door when he almost walked smack dab into Susan, who looked at him with a very satisfied look. He tensed up and knew that she had seen that.

"This isn't what it looks like?" He made an innocent motion with his hands. She only raised an eyebrow at him that very much showed that she knew that it was exactly what it looked like. He simply shrugged at her look and stepped around her to continue down the hall towards his own bedroom.

Susan stood leaning against his door while he picked out clothing from his closet.

"Do you love her?" she questioned after a moment.

He was in the middle of pulling out a t-shirt when Johnny froze mid reach.

"Excuse me?" He felt like Raven needed to be there and be part of the conversation.

"You heard me." She crossed her arms over her chest and leaned more heavily into the wall.

He frowned slightly at his closet, then turned around and dropped the clothes onto the bed. He put his hands on his hips and looked at her.

"Yeah," he let his arms drop by his sides again, "Yeah, I suppose I do."

For a moment Johnny was sure she'd start worrying if he was being sincere or if he was rushing into something he couldn't fully comprehend, but then she smiled gratefully at him. She could tell that he meant it.

They didn't get to say anything else, because at that moment, the door bell rang.

This in itself was strange enough, because they rarely got visitors, and the visitor they did get were so familiar with the place that they normally entered without knocking.

Susan sent him an odd look, signaling that she had thought something along the same lines.

"Maybe Reed ordered something over the internet." Susa said after the second ring. Johnny nodded and followed her as they headed for the door.

If Johnny had known just how much trouble he would be in once he opened the door, he would've probably locked it instead. But he didn't know that as he took hold of the handle and turned it.

Only to be met with a gun aimed at his forehead.

Susan let out a gasp at the same time as Johnny swallowed one down.

Teresa, of all people, stood in their doorway and they had just _opened the door for her_.

Johnny didn't have time to be amused by the fact that she had rung the doorbell, as he was very much preoccupied with the gun.

"I think we all know why I'm here." She coolly stated.

"To borrow a cup of sugar?" Johnny easily fell back into his cocky Superhero state of mind, which always had a comeback up his sleeve.

Out of the corner of her eye, Teresa could see Susan slowly turning invisible. "If you disappear, I'll blow his head off!" He really wanted to be afraid for his own life, but at that moment, Johnny could only think about Susan and the child growing in her womb, and Raven. As long as Raven stayed in her room, she would be safe, but he still had to find a way of getting Susan out of there.

He knew that telling her to turn invisible anyway was out of the question, since there was no way she'd do it.

And where the hell were Reed and Ben anyway?

Johnny could hear the door to Raven's room opening and he closed his eyes in defeat.

_Please don't.._

He opened his eyes again at the sound of Raven's gasp. "Teresa!" Raven sounded very panicked, "What are you doing!"

Wasn't that much obvious? Johnny fought to keep that thought to himself. She obviously didn't mean what Teresa was physically doing at that moment, she asked why Teresa had decided to show up on their doorstep, when that obviously was a terribly bad move, if she wanted to avoid getting caught.

Still, it was stressful for him to have a gun pointed at him, as was only natural. If he had been able to flame on and get the heat to rise accordingly, the gun wouldn't have done much harm to him, since his body heat would mostly melt the bullet.

Right now, however, she would shoot him before he could reach the necessary heat, or worse, point the gun at someone else.

"You two, walk backwards." Teresa ordered. Once they did, she stepped through the elevator door and into the room. "Continue until you reach the window. No funny business." She was no longer sassy or sophisticated; Teresa had entered business mode and had become as hard as rock.

"Teresa, please, your business is with me. Let them go." Raven wasn't screaming or sounding panicked at all; she seemed calm and collected as if she had already accepted this fate.

"No, they've become involved now." Teresa motioned for Raven to move towards the other, with her gun. "They asked for this the day they decided to take you under their wings."

Raven was now next to Johnny, reached out and grabbed her hand in his, for comfort.

"Which is why I'm going to kill them first: So that you can look at their bodies and know that it's your fault, before you die yourself."

Ravens grip on Johnny's hand tightened painfully and the water pipes began to ominously creak and groan.

Before Teresa, Johnny and Susan knew what was happening, the whole water system exploded, bricks wood and metal flying everywhere. Water erupted and streamed towards her as fast as a speeding racing car, and soon she was surrounded by swirling mists and rivers of water twirling around in mid air.

In the chaos, Teresa got hit by a nice sized piece of debris right in her stomach, which winded her, making her fall to the ground and drop her gun.

As it landed on the ground, a shot went off. In the panic, Johnny didn't see where it hit, but on instinct, he took Susan in his arms and shielded her from the rest of the room.

Raven looked absolutely terrifying: Her hair was floating around as if underwater and her eyes were an unnatural blue color. The water streamed around her body like snakes and it looked almost like it was alive. To his surprise, he could see that some of the water even passed through her. Her hands were raised so they came level with her jaw, her mouth set in an angry sneer. Her fingers twitched with the effort of holding up all that water.

"You will not touch them again!" When she spoke, her voice sounded loud and echoing, yet distant, as if they were hearing it under water.

Teresa looked like she had realized that this might've not been a very good idea. She looked absolutely shell-shocked to see Raven like this and Johnny could understand why: Teresa was used to seeing a weak little woman with a weak personality and no control over her powers.

Hell, even Johnny who knew how powerful she could be was shocked at this new development.

A particularly harsh burst of water knocked the gun far away from Teresa and Raven stepped closer.

"I should kill you now." Raven said in that strange voice. "Did you know that I can extract the water from your body so you die from dehydration? Or that I can cover you with water till you drown?"

Teresa still looked frightened from her spot on the floor, but a glimmer of her old spark returned at that statement. "You won't. You're not like me. You have limits." She sounded very sure of herself.

A dark chuckle escaped the new Raven's lips. "Everyone has their limits. You just forced me to cross mine, something you will pay dearly for."

Johnny had trouble hearing Teresa's side of the conversation, since her voice hadn't been eerily magnified and seemed to fill up the entirety of the room, so he asked Susan to turn invisible for her own safety, so he could go close without worrying about her.

"What about you?" She protested. Johnny shook his head. "I need to stop Raven. Something's wrong." Susan nodded in understanding and started to pull off her clothes, revealing her suit underneath and then went invisible.

"Contact Reed." Johnny ordered and then stepped closer towards the two women on the other side of the laboratory.

"Which will it be, Teresa?" Raven questioned.

"Dehydration?" at this she moved one of her hands so it was level with the kneeling woman's throat, pulling at least a liter of water from her mouth. Teresa started coughing from the sudden dryness in her mouth. "Or drowning?" The new Raven made a motion with her other hand and water enveloped Teresa completely.

Johnny panicked at what he saw. This wasn't his Raven. He needed to stop her.

"Raven, stop!" He shouted at her. It was difficult to reach her because of all the floating water, which had continued to carry debris around. The whole place had turned an eerie underwater blue. The water which was going in slow circles started going faster and faster, to the point where it looked like an underwater tornado.

With a frustrated roar, Johnny erupted in flames, burning away the clothes he was wearing, leaving him in his suit.

Now it was much easier to reach the two women. Teresa was still engulfed in water and the sense of urgency grew in him.

"RAVEN!" He shouted as loud as he could. He finally reached her and took hold of her raised arms. As he forced them down, Raven lost focus and all the water in the room fell to the floor, including the water around Teresa.

Teresa spluttered and coughed in the floor. Raven went limp in his arms. He quickly set her down and stepped towards Teresa. Susan appeared behind her. "I've called the cops." She informed him. "And Reed. He'll be here in a moment."

"Good." Johnny said. He had no idea what to do now. He was used to Reed taking care of the after battle.

Turning around, he looked at the unconscious body of Raven. Her hair wasn't floating around anymore and, if he could have seen them, he'd have known that her eyes had returned to their normal state.

"What happened?" Susan asked. It was obvious she was asking about Raven's sudden personality change.

"I'm not sure." Was all Johnny would answer. He took a tentative step towards her. It was clear that she was knocked out. Her body halfway on one side, one of her arms clutching her stomach. She was surrounded by water.

Johnny frowned at her form.

Surrounded by red water.

In a second, he was at her side. A horrid feeling told him that he already knew what had happened.

_The gun shot that went off.. _

He gently moved her arm, revealing her shirt which was soaked with blood.

* * *

Well, I hope you liked this little plot mover. This story is actually over pretty soon.

Liked it? Show your appreciation with a REVIEW!


	26. The Hospital Bed

The next chapter is the very last one. IT'S ALMOST OVER NOW, YOU GUYS!

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"Where am I?" was the first question to leave Raven's mouth. She had woken up in a bed with a white and thick, if not slightly uncomfortable blanket covering her. She mumbled the words quietly to herself as she briefly studied the room she was in. the question wasn't hard to answer: Everything was white and impersonal. As soon as she was aware of her surroundings, she settled more comfortably into the admittedly soft bed and tried to recall exactly why she was in the hospital.

It occurred to her that she probably should have handled her situation a little less calmly, but she hadn't even thought about panicking.

She remembered Teresa entering the apartment. She remembered her pointing a gun at Johnny, a thought that made her blood boil and her cheeks warm up with anger.

She remembered getting incredibly mad and then.. the water pipes had exploded. She had completely thrashed the apartment and possibly destroyed the water system in the whole building.

She could recall the huge amount of water she had been able to suspend in the air and the sheer force and power she had felt when it flowed around, _through, _her.

Like lighting striking down, she realized that she had tried to kill Teresa by drowning her.

Why?

Why had she done that?

Raven knew that she hadn't been herself in that moment. Something about her had been off; she hadn't been in control of her own emotions and powers nor her destructive capabilities.

It wasn't like Raven to want t hurt other people. Sure, she had temper and tended to get into fierce arguments, but she'd never physically hurt anyone before.

She decided that she needed to know what was going on. Now.

She tried to sit up in the bed, but stopped when she saw that she was rigged to several machines. If she moved, she'd probably unplug some of them, which she didn't want.

She shifted in bed instead, cringing when her stomach throbbed harshly in pain.

Oh yeah.

She'd gotten shot.

She'd totally forgotten that.

It certainly explained why she was in a hospital.

Why hadn't she thought of that?

Deciding that her brain probably was muddled by medicine and painkillers, she pulled the blanket off her stomach to see the bandaged area.

She'd been shot right above her left hip, she remembered. As she looked at the spot, she was able to fully recall the incident.

She couldn't remember much pain, only anger and that she'd been miffed that Teresa had accidentally shot her. The indignation had son been forgotten, allowing the anger to shine through, resulting in her losing her composure and almost killing Teresa.

Raven couldn't help but feel ashamed that Johnny had seen her like that.

Which reminded her..

Where the hell was that guy?

Weren't he supposed to be a good boyfriend and stay with her?

She snickered slightly at the thought of him cricking his neck from sleeping in a chair next to her bed, and decided that she didn't mind terribly if he had decided to go home to rest instead of staying.

She didn't even know how long she'd been at the hospital. It could've been hours, it could've been day.

Her head shot up at the sound of someone entering the room.

It was Reed.

"Good, you're awake!" he gave a kind smile and picked up a chair that was next to the door. "We've been worried about you."

Raven shrugged, "I feel fine." As an afterthought, she added, "but that's probably thanks to the treatment I've been under."

"Mhmm." Reed agreed. "You've been out for two days, in case you were wondering."

Raven raised her eyebrows in an impressed manner. "That long? Johnny must've died twice over with worry."

"He has. It's weird to see him like that." Reed looked slyly at her, "But I think I can understand why."

She didn't blush, but a pleased smile did show on her lips.

"Congratulations." He said. "I hope he finally plans to settle down."

Raven didn't know what to comment on that, so she just kept her mouth shut, waiting for him to say what he really wanted to say.

"Speaking of Johnny.. He explained the situation in detail to me."

"I don't know what happened to me, if that's what you're gonna ask." Raven waved him off. She didn't know why she seemed to have momentarily lost her sanity.

"It wasn't. I just wanted to let you know that the doctors suspect it might be the product of trauma or something similar. As soon as you're strong enough, they'll put you through some tests and find out what diagnosis to give you, along with what professional help you'll need."

"I suppose that makes sense."

Reed nodded, evidently relieved that she took it so nicely. "The doctor that treated you gave all of us an earful for not getting you to a hospital as soon as the minute you arrived at our doorstop all those months ago."

A short laugh burst from her lips, but she winced and stopped herself when it jostled her wounded stomach.

"I would've liked to see that."

Reed grimaced at the memory.

"Listen, people are going to be asking questions. Things like why Teresa Von Doom is in prison or why the water pipes in the Baxter Building exploded. Especially, they are going to want to know about you. I want to ask for your permission to let your story become public. Let you become public."

She considered it for a moment and then shrugged. "Sure. Go ahead."

Reed looked dumbfounded by her easy reply. "You won't mind me telling them everything?" he tested.

"Nope." Go ahead. People can know if they want to." She rubbed her eyes tiredly. "God, this medicine is messing with my brain. I'm going to regret this decision. But go ahead anyway."

Reed smiled again and patted her shoulder. "I think they're going to give you sedative soon. So I'll be going again. I'll probably see you in a couple of days."

Just as he finished talking, a nurse came in. She smiled kindly at Raven and explained that she was going to give her a sedative now.

"Just a moment!" Raven stopped the nurse, who was advancing with a needle. "What happened to Teresa?"

Reed, who had been halfway through the door already, stopped and turned around. "She got a quick check up at the hospital, but she was fine. She's in jail now."

Raven nodded in understanding. She was finally free from her Von Doom 'curse'. They weren't going to haunt her anymore.

The nurse asked if they were finished and when Raven nodded, she proceeded to give her the dose.

"You'll wake up in twelve hours." The nurse said.

Raven tried to answer but felt that her mouth was difficult to move and her eyelids to heavy to open.

After several check-ups with doctors and nurses, Raven was back in her assigned hospital bed. She was tired and sore and really wanted to go back to sleep.

She also wondered where Johnny was. He hadn't been there when she woke up and he hadn't showed up later either.

Raven assumed that he, and the others, were busy telling the curious New York reports about her. She knew it was slightly narcissistic, but she was a bit excited to read the articles.

Boredom soon became present. Other than a nurse, who came to give her food, and a doctor that came to briefly explain what diagnosis she'd gotten and the name of her new psychologist, she didn't see anyone for several hours.

Trying to keep the boredom at bay, she was reading a year old magazine which she had found in the table next to her bed. It was strange to read because she'd been in an underground prison when the things in it had happened. It was nice to read too. It helped her to gain a bit of an idea of some of the things she'd missed out on while in prison.

But it worried her too. She came to realize how much five years really meant and that it was going to take time because she fully understood the world she was in again. She needed to get herself up to date with what had happened in the outside world, while she was absent.

She made a mental note to start reading the newspapers every day from now on.

She forgot all about her worrying, when Johnny suddenly entered the room.

He smiled brightly at her, not without a certain amount of relief, and she gladly returned the smile.

"I see you've woken up." He pushed a chair close to her bed and sat down. "I came to check on you earlier, but you were still asleep."

"More like knocked out: The nurse gave me a sedative." She put away the magazine.

He nodded, "Yeah, I know. Sorry I didn't come sooner. We've been at a press conference for hours. Who knew reporters could ask so many questions?"

"Oh, I knew that. My dad was a reporter." She waved his apology off.

"Was?"

"I never told you?" She frowned slightly as she tried to recall if she had, "He died. It was part of the reason why I moved to New York."

"I'm sorry." He looked sympathetically at her and grabbed her hand with his.

"Don't be. He was sick. I'm relieved that he's at peace now." she shrugged.

"Raven, you should know that you're not going to have much of a private life for the next while. You're the next big story and the news papers are going to hunt you down." Johnny said after a moment.

Raven grimaced.

"Don't worry though, it won't last. It was like that too when we first became Superheroes. They followed us around everywhere. " He got a faraway look, as if thinking back on old days, "But it's not so bad now. Now they mostly just write if we've stopped a crime or Reed's all science-y."

"Well, I'm sure I'll survive then." She rationalized.

"Of course you will! Besides, I'll be right there to help you along."

Raven decided to not mention her suspicion that he just wanted a bit of the spot light to himself. Johnny was a very self-secure man, but he wasn't necessarily narcissistic, at least not anymore.

"When do you get out?"

"I have no idea. My doctor says that it depends on how quickly I heal – which again depends on how good I am at keep still and not strain my stomach."

Johnny made a noise of agreement. He didn't start a sobbing story about how he'd never been so scared in his life as when she'd been shot, but it wasn't necessary. She knew that he'd been worried, but she didn't need him to enter some long sob story.

"I was thinking.. After you get out, would you like to move in with me? Like, in my apartment?"

Raven smirked a bit, "Do you really think we can deal with living in the same apartment with each other all the time?"

The question, of course, was completely ironic. They'd, after all, been doing exactly that for months now.

"I think we could manage." He smirked back.

"Well then, if you think you're prepared to face the consequences of living in the same apartment as a female, particularly _this_ female, I accept."

Johnny smiled gratefully at her and reached up to plant a sweet kiss on her mouth. His hand held onto her cheek gently and he kissed her. He stood up again and made for the door.

"I think I'll go talk to the doctor. I want to know when you can get out. Should I just move your stuff to my apartment now or do you want to do that yourself?"

"By all means, knock yourself out. Less work for me."

He stuck his tongue out at her and then left the room. She returned the gesture at the door, since he was already gone.

She settled more comfortably into the bed and silently begged her stomach to heal quickly so she could go home.

_Home._

How long since she'd used that word.

* * *

Since you won't have the opportunity to do so much longer, how about writing a nice REVIEW now?


	27. The Epilogue

This is just an epilogue, so it's not that long, but I think it's very sweet. It's more to give you guys an idea of what happens with them in the future, relationship-wise

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"And that, kids, was how your mother and I met." Johnny leaned back into his pillow in satisfaction, having finished the whole story.

"Cute." Raven replied drily, "But shouldn't you wait 'til they're born before telling them stories?"

Johnny smirked at her and threatened to throw a pillow at her face, "Might as well practice a bit." He reached out and put a hand on her very, _very_, pregnant stomach.

"I want to be good at telling that story before Sam and Dean comes out."

Raven rolled her eyes at the names, she shifted to she sat cross-legged in front of him, "I'm not letting you name my children that just because you like a TV-show."

"Hey, Supernatural is a good show!" Johnny protested, "And Sam and Dean are good names."

"Mhmm, I suppose." She admitted. Truth was, she loved watching that show with him, and he knew it, "So what are you gonna call them if they're girls?"

"Easy." Johnny sat up straighter, "Samantha and Diana."

Raven raised an eyebrow. "No."

"I'll get you convinced soon enough. But of course they'll be boys." Johnny shrugged. Ravne rolled her eyes at his totally convinced tone.

"Do you think Marcus is asleep by now?" Johnny asked after a few minutes, referring to their five year old son.

"Yeah, probably. It's already ten." Raven nodded. "He's a smart kid; he knows that a good night's sleep is important."

"Of course he's a smart kid, he's got my genes." Johnny winked at her. She scoffed.

"He certainly does take after you: Just this afternoon I caught him using his powers to avoid the vegetables in his soup."

Ah, yes, the wonders of fathering a child with superpowers. Once Marcus had been born and had showed no signs of powers, Raven and Johnny had been torn between relief and disappointment, not quite knowing if they should be feeling glad that he would never be an outsider or have as big of a responsibility on his shoulders as they had, or if they should feel bad for him, because he missed out on becoming a superhero and didn't have any powers.

Because, let's face it: Every little boy wants to be a superhero and have powers.

As it were, they accepted the fact that their son was powerless.

It had been different with Reed and Susan son. He had shown signs of powers almost immediately after he was born.

They didn't get to accept this for a very long time, because after he turned one, he started showing signs himself.

Things like accidentally burning his clothes or making his bathwater float around the bathroom. So far his powers weren't nearly as strong as Raven or Johnny's.

"Are you sure we can handle dealing with two extra toddlers with no control over their powers?" Johnny asked her.

"I think we can manage. What else would you have us do? Put them up for adoption?" she joked.

"Of course not." He reached out and she settled against him, sighing with content.

"I thought not. If you really thought we couldn't handle it, you shouldn't have knocked me up."

A surprised laugh escaped his chest.

"Well, I'm terribly sorry for allowing myself to have sex with my wife!"

"Apology accepted."

She reached out and played with his hand. "I have this feeling.." Raven began. "I think the twins are going to have one power each, you know? Marcus inherited both yours and mine, but he's not nearly as strong as the both of us combined. I think the twins are going to be just as powerful as us, but only with one power each."

"That kinda makes sense." Johnny mussed. "We should let Ben babysit them at some point. That would be entertaining."

"Oh!" Raven sat up eagerly , "And then out a camera on the room, so we can watch what happened afterwards!"

Johnny smirked, "I love your mind." She settled down against him again and he started playing with her hair.

"And _I_ love _you_." She reached up and pecked him on the mouth.

"Seriously, though, it's been a long time since we actually saw Ben and Alicia." Raven pointed out. "We should invite them over."

"Mhm." Johnny agreed, "Reed and Sue too."

"I'll do that tomorrow. I'm going to sleep now."

Johnny sighed loudly. "Yes, going to bed at ten thirty," he stood up to help her pull back the covers. "The party never stops. "

"As an adult family man, you shouldn't be going to any party as it is."

"I know. And I'm not going to any parties, am I?" Johnny spread his arms out as if to demonstrate that he was still there. He hadn't been attending any wild parties since he and Raven decided that they'd gotten too old for that.

"Nope." She huffed and puffed as she tried to sit down comfortably again. "S'not like any of the young girls would find you attractive anymore." She winked at him.

"I'm still young and good looking." Johnny defended his pride.

"Of course you are, sweetie." Raven deliberately called him that because she knew it made him feel old, "Is that a grey hair?" She squinted her eyes and pointed at his dark blond hair.

Instinctively, his hands shot up into his hair, a look of horror on his face.

Raven couldn't help but let out a hearty laugh at the look he wore.

"That's not funny." He grumbled, but he had a twinkle in his eyes and a smile tugging at his lips.

Trying to worm herself from a sitting position into lying down, Raven grumbled at her over-sized and over-weight stomach.

"Sweetheart, are you complaining about my children?" Johnny slipped under the covers at the other side of the bed and snuggled close to her.

"I'm only saying that if they had any sense of timing, they'd come out already!

"Relax, Raven, you're only two days overdue. They'll come out when they are ready. It's not like anyone has ever tried that the baby stayed in there."

"You're right." She sighed.

"Of course I am. I'm the smart one in this relationship, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Raven turned so she was slightly on her side, her back against Johnny's chest. She didn't feel any need to remind him that just yesterday, he had successfully managed to destroy their microwave oven.

"Good night." She yawned after a few moments.

"Sleep tight." Despite his earlier complaint about not wanting to go to bed so early, Johnny's voice was slow and sleepy as he mumbled the words.

A smile tugged at her lips.

"And don't let the bed bugs bite." They chorused in unison.

* * *

I want to thank all of you who favorited and alerted and reviewed. Since this is the last chapter, I'm going to strongly advice you to leave me a short review, telling my what you thought of the story overall. I really need the feedback, so I can become a better author.

I also want to shamelessly advertize for my newest story:

Right now, I'm in the middle of writing a Superman story.

It's a romance story between Clark Kent and an OC. It's very different from this story, more humorous and in a first person POV.

Personally, I know it's the best story I've ever written, so far.

I won't begin posting chapter just yet, since I want to try to actually be a few chapters ahead, instead of posting them as soon as I finish them, like I did on this story.

Anyway, thank you all again, I never could've written this story if you hadn't been reading it.


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